The Jezabels debut album Prisoner has entered the ARIA Album Charts at the number 2 position with only Adele (who has spent 19 weeks in the top spot) pipping them at the post. Meanwhile, on the Single Charts, Gotye‘s ubiquitous single “Somebody That I Used To Know” retained its position at number 1 and (if I’m reading the music chart code correctly) has now gone 3 x Platinum.
Could Australia’s dreary history with Tall Poppy Syndrome be easing? There’s a growing crop of evidence suggesting that Australians are becoming increasingly supportive of home grown musical talent – and, perhaps more impressively, independent musical talent at that.
Earlier this year, the results from triple j‘s listener-voted poll for the “Australian Hottest 100 Of All Time” revealed independent labels fared better than their major label counterparts, with 54% of albums that made the list being independent releases. And in January, for the radio station’s perennial Hottest 100 of the year, triple j listeners ranked Angus & Julia Stone‘s sleepy folk number “Big Jet Plane” in the top spot, followed by Melbourne rock and roll throwbacks Little Red claiming #2. In fact, 50% of the 100 was populated by Australian acts.
It’s looking like Australia’s recording industry is moving closer toward being a self-sustainable beast…
Congratulations to The Jezabels.
Title Image by Rachel Tinney
