Emerging Australian artists have struggled to break through the charts dominated by American music, but industry experts question whether the ARIA changes will make a big difference.
Australia’s music charts are about to change in a significant way.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has begun overhauling its chart system to create more room for new releases. It’s a move some hope will help Australian artists to gain more traction in a competitive market.
Under the new system, the ARIA main charts, which track singles and albums, will only include music released within the last two years.
Older releases will appear on a separate list, the ARIA On Replay charts. A special provision will allow tracks that have been absent from the Top 100 for at least a decade to return if a viral moment or sync placement pushes them into the Top 30. However those returning titles can only remain on the main charts for up to ten weeks.
"Creating clear space to spotlight exciting new music while recognising the lasting impact and relevance of timeless classics through our ARIA on Replay Charts. Our aim is to support the discovery and celebration of great Australian music at every stage of its life," said ARIAs CEO Annabelle Herd, at the announcement.
But industry figures say the move will have little real impact on Australian artists.
"The brutal truth is the charts aren’t really relevant anymore," says music industry researcher Tim Kelly.
"If you stopped fifty people on the street, most wouldn’t know what’s number one, because the way we consume and discover music has changed dramatically."
The evolution of Australia's music charts
Kelly’s research shows that the representation of Australian artists in the ARIA Top 100 declined sharply from 2000 to 2023.
The share of Australian and New Zealand acts on the singles chart fell from around 16 per cent in the early 2000s to just 2.5 per cent in 2023. Local albums saw a similar drop, from 29 per cent to four per cent over the same period.
This erosion isn't just about taste. The global recorded-music industry has consolidated dramatically. Three international companies — Universal, Sony and Warner — now account for more than 95 per cent of the hits that appear on the Australian Top 100.
And when it comes to distribution, Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube command an estimated 97 per cent of the streaming market. These concentrations of power allow a handful of players to shape what listeners discover — and what never reaches them.
The result is a marketplace where Anglo-American music dominates and local voices struggle to break through.
Most emerging artists face an uphill climb without the marketing muscle of a major label or the algorithmic boost of a global playlist.
"The thing is, you’ve got a global market. Platforms are trying to satisfy the majority of users and in an English-speaking country that tends to mean a heavy bias toward American content. The algorithms end up reinforcing that," says Kelly.
The joy of stumbling on new local music has all but disappeared.
"When I started in the industry, there were mechanisms, local radio, magazines, TV shows that could break an artist here first. That whole ecosystem is basically gone.
"Discovery now happens globally, and you’re competing against the world from day one," says Kelly.
Battling older hits
Then there’s the resurgence of older music. A single viral moment can breathe life into an old hit, which then reappears on the charts for a lengthy period of time.
Just a few years ago, the Top 100 was mostly new releases: for example in 2018, hits like Youngblood by 5 Seconds of Summer, God's Plan by Drake and Perfect by Ed Sheeran dominated the charts.
But then in 2020, a TikTok clip of Nathan Apodaca skateboarding with a bottle of cranberry juice was enough to catapult Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic Dreams back into the charts. This was during a month when not a single Australian act appeared in the Top 10.
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A similar story unfolded in 2022, when TV series Stranger Things sparked a global obsession with Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. It turned the 1985 track into one of the most streamed songs in the world, even as local artist Kid LAROI’s Thousand Miles and Stay trailed behind in fifth and sixth place.
These revivals highlight a growing challenge: the more space timeless hits occupy, the harder it becomes for new music, particularly from emerging Australian artists, to break through.
Deeper structural issues
Even if ARIA’s new system succeeds in boosting the number of Australian acts in the charts, deeper structural issues remain entrenched in the music industry.
Benjamin Caduro, also known by his stage name Benjamino, is an independent artist who has appeared on the AMRAP community radio charts. He understands these issues well.
"The biggest thing with being on the charts, especially for independent artists, is that they seem so unattainable," he says. "They feel like a very, very distant world."
There's also the concern that most artists earn very little from streaming. Millions of plays can translate into minimal income, forcing artists to rely on touring, merchandise, or licensing deals to sustain their careers.
On Spotify, for instance, artists are typically paid between USD $0.003 and USD $0.005 per stream, with roughly 70 per cent of that revenue split among rights holders, including songwriters, publishers and the owners of the master recordings.
For many artists, that means even a viral hit may not generate enough money to live on.
"From a marketing point of view, it’ll help surface new music. But it’s not going to fix the fundamental problem. If you want a vibrant local scene, you need to support artists at every level, not just whoever can crack the Top 10," Kelly says.
Caduro believes a dedicated indie chart could make a real difference by showing who is getting plays, sales or airplay, without relying solely on audience-driven metrics. While the exact formula could be debated, he says the goal would be to give both the public and industry tastemakers clearer data on which independent artists are building momentum.
"Visibility is the biggest challenge right now," he says.
Such a chart, he adds, could serve as both a showcase and a stepping stone, helping emerging acts build credibility and eventually transition to the main charts.
"Independent music is essential to the diversity of Australia’s music landscape, and it should always have space to thrive, even if artists later choose to work with labels."
