News 12 January 2024

Women triumph in 2023

Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus top the ARIA End Of Year Charts

The 2023 ARIA End Of Year Charts have arrived and – to no one’s surprise – one woman’s quest for world domination has left its mark, with Taylor Swift landing five of the top 10 albums and 10 of the top 50.

Coming in at #1 is 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which spent nine weeks on top in 2023 for the longest consecutive run of any album. Midnights, which reigned supreme for seven weeks (in addition to the seven weeks it was at #1 in 2022), scores #2. Midnights was also the #1 album of 2022, marking the second year in a row Taylor has had the biggest album of the year.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), which spent two weeks at #1 this year, lands at #7; Lover comes in at #8 and the original version of 1989 hits #9. Taylor also lands at #11 with Reputation, #12 with Folklore, #29 with Red (Taylor’s Version), #36 with Evermore and #46 with Fearless (Taylor’s Version).

The Weeknd also has reason to celebrate, scoring #3 with The Highlights – also the #3 album of 2022 – and landing at #10 with Starboy.

American Morgan Wallen led this year’s country charge, with One Thing At A Time standing tall as the #4 album of 2023. It topped the ARIA Albums Chart for two weeks. Fellow country star Luke Combs has three in the top 25 for the year: This One’s For You at #14, Gettin’ Old at #17 and What You See Ain’t Always What You Get at #24.

Rounding out the top five is American R&B star SZA, with SOS at #5, while last year’s #2 album, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, ranks #6 for this year.

On the Singles Chart, Miley Cyrus’ megahit Flowers takes the #1 spot thanks to its 12 weeks on top, which ties with only three other songs to spent three months at #1: Pharrell Williams’ Happy in 2014, Eminem’s Lose Yourself in 2002-03 and Dinah Shore’s Buttons and Bows in 1949. Eight songs have spent more than 12 weeks at #1; the champion is Tones and I’s Dance Monkey, which clocked 24 weeks on top in 2019-20.

Morgan Wallen’s country crossover smash Last Night is the #2 single of the year; it spent eight weeks at #1. Fellow American country singer Zach Bryan is at #7 for the year with Something In The Orange.

SZA’s Kill Bill spent one week on top and is the #3 single of 2023, while Taylor Swift lands two in the top 10, with Anti-Hero at #4 and Cruel Summer at #8.

Two new artists make the top 10 this year: PinkPantheress at #5 with Boy’s A Liar and Raye featuring 070 Shake at #10 with Escapism.

Last year’s biggest selling single, Harry Styles’ As It Was, is at #9 this year.

ARIA CEO, Annabelle Herd, said: “Congratulations to all the artists who dominated 2023, but particularly to Taylor, who has completely reset the narrative for what a solo artist can accomplish. She is a truly once-in-a-lifetime artist, storyteller, performer and businessperson. Similarly, Miley Cyrus’ incredible achievement on the Singles Chart over the past year – solidified at #1 on the 2023 Singles Chart – is cause for celebration… as is women at the top of both the Singles and Albums Charts for 2023.

“Having said that, the 2023 charts tell an all-too-familiar story that we have been very vocal about for the past 24 months: there are simply not enough Australian artists – let alone new Australian artists – breaking through with their home audience. We are just as frustrated as the rest of the music industry, and Aussie music lovers, to find only four Australian albums in the top 100 this year and three singles, none of which were released last year.

“It’s frustrating, but the data provided by these charts is an unbiased view of how Australian audiences consume music, and we need to use this data to understand we have a very urgent, very complex problem to solve. We need to address the damaging lack of data about contemporary music. We need more resources to grab the opportunity to become a net export nation. We need a strong financial commitment from Music Australia to ensure our artists have a chance of securing the global fame that they deserve. There is a huge opportunity in increasing streams from the ever-growing global market,” she said.

“The good news is that we are at a turning point, with renewed support for Ausmusic from the Federal Government and various state governments, the establishment of Music Australia, Sound NSW, and the Centre for Creative Workplaces. We look forward to working with all of these bodies and the broader industry to help connect more Australian Artists with fans in 2024, in the hope that we can change the narrative this time next year.”

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