Gotye set tone for the decade, says ARIA

The musical decade belonged to an Australian artist with a song that was as catchy as it was successful.

Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know was the highest-selling Australian single of the 2010s.

The former busker known as Tones and I might be dominating music charts worldwide, but the decade belonged to another Australian artist with a song that was as catchy as it was successful.

Gotye has been named ARIA’s artist of the decade, leading the singles chart over that period with his 2011 hit song Somebody That I Used to Know. His song, featuring guest vocals from Kimbra, was the second-highest-selling song — and the only one by an Australian — to crack the top 10 end-of- ­decade ARIA singles chart.

The top-selling song belonged to Ed Sheeran with his 2017 single Shape of You.

The English singer has two other songs in the top 10, while three of his albums made the top of the albums list as well.

Gotye’s Making Mirrors comes in at 27 in the overall album list and No 3 among Australians. “And for anyone who’s wondering,” said Gotye, aka Wally De Backer, “yes, the follow-up album will be ­released in the next decade. ­Probably.”

Sheeran had been on track to hold the record for the most weeks of any artist at the top of the ARIA singles chart until Tones and I took that honour late last year with her breakout hit Dance ­Monkey, which spent 22 weeks at No 1.

Dance Monkey was the highest charting Australian track in the 2019 singles chart and the 10th top-selling Australian single of the decade, despite having been released only last year.

In the ARIA album chart, Adele holds the No 1 and No 3 spots across the decade. Among the Australians, INXS comes in at the top ahead of albums by Cold Chisel and Gotye.

 

While recent months have been dominated by Tones and I and US singer Billie Eilish, ARIA boss Dan Rosen said in a statement that Gotye had helped shape the decade like no other artist. “Gotye set the tone and trend for Australian music this decade, as our industry became increasingly global,” he said.

“Gotye’s music climbed charts all around the world and created a lasting impact and legacy that inspired a new generation of Aussie acts to take on the world.”