Gracie Abrams’ not-so-secret success

Californian singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams scores her first runaway hit in Australia this week as her second album, The Secret Of Us, debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart.Gracie’s first album, Good Riddance, peaked at #30 last year.

Nominated for best new artist at the 66th GRAMMY Awards earlier this year, she has been one of the opening acts in parts of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. Taylor features on one of the album’s tracks, Us, which debuts at #25 on the singles chart.

Rising pop star Chappell Roan arrives in the top 10, as her debut album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princessjumps from #14 to #7.Born Kayleigh Amstutz in Willard, Missouri (her stage name combines her late grandfather’s surname and his favourite song, The Strawberry Roan by Curley Fletcher), Chappell was the opening act for Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS tour in North America earlier this year. Her track Good Luck, Babe! climbs from #20 to #12 on the singles chart this week.

Aussie pop band Sheppard are back with their fourth studio album, Zora, which arrives at #8. Now based in Nashville, the ARIA Award winners hit #2 in 2014 with Bombs Away, #1 in 2018 with Watching The Sky and #2 in 2021 with Kaleidoscope Eyes.

On the Singles Chart, Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please Please stays on top for a second week; her previous hit, Espresso, was #1 for one week in May.

Sabrina co-wrote Please Please Please with Amy Allen and Jack Antonoff. Amy co-wrote hits such as Harry Styles’ Adore You and Halsey’s Without Me. Jack scored two #1 hits here as a member of the band Fun in 2012 (We Are Young and Some Nights) and has since written and produced a swag of hits for a lot of acts including Taylor Swift: he co-wrote and co-produced her most recent #1, Fortnight, featuring Post Malone.