Unlike last year, it turns out that the singing strains of Wally De Backer aka Gotye wasn’t the most played Australian artist, it wasn’t even the cut-up sounds of Flume, nor was it a pop star like Guy Sebastian or Samantha Jade. Instead the most played voice on Australian radio this year belongs to that of Karnviool’s frontman, Ian Kenny – but it wasn’t his Perth prog rockers that claimed the top spot…
After battling it out in the Top 5 position for a number of weeks with international acts, Perth spawned rock band Birds of Tokyo have scored the status of ‘Most Played Australian Act’ on domestic radio for the first quarter of 2013, reports Radio Today.
According to the latest chart from radio statistics body Aircheck, the Perth quintet – currently touring in support of their latest album March Fires – were the most played artist on Australian radio between January 1st and March 31st, thanks to their single ‘Lanterns’.
The track has had a total of 7,061 spins on Australian radio according to the Aircheck airplay monitoring, beating out pop star Samantha Jade to the top spot with 4,739 plays of her single ‘What You’ve Done To Me’, followed closely by Sydney beatmaker Flume, Guy Sebastian, and Gotye’s ubiquitous Kimbra-featuring duet ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ at #5, still getting a healthy 1,861 spins more than a year after its release.
Not only do they take the #1 spot, but March Fires‘ unofficial first single ‘This Fire’ also lands in the Top 10 of the most played Australian songs for 2013’s first four months, landing at #7 with 1,708 spins between January 1st and March 31st.
As well as claiming the title of most played Australian act on radio, the success of Birds of Tokyo’s ‘Lanterns’ also places them at #5 in the Top 20 list, behind international acts like hip-hop duo and Triple J Hottest 100 winners Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, with their Mary Lambert-featuring single ‘Same Love’ at #4, Olly Murs’ ‘Troublemaker’ at #3; Bruno Mars in the silver spot with ‘When I Was Your Man’, and the most played song on radio going to ‘Ho Hey’, from independent folk rock act The Lumineers, at 7,693 spins.
The success of the Birds of Tokyo single can also be pinpointed to one particular week, namely Feb 18th to 24th, where – according to Radio Today it was the most played song on radio, period. Racking up 716 spins for the week over Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Bruno Mars, Pink, and The Lumineers; chiefly thanks to airplay across digital and analogue broadcasts.
The #1 most played Aussie song also happens to come from the band’s first ever chart-topping album, March Fires, which debuted at the #1 position on the ARIA albums chart upon its release in March. Finally capitalising on their successive releases, with 2008’s Universes peaking at #3 and its self-titled follow-up managing #2 in 2010, March Fires beat strong competition to debut at #1.
It seems the five-piece band’s efforts have paid off, the results of their #1 album and the record-breaking status of ‘Lanterns’ arriving after the band complete an extensive national tour last month, including an appearance at Tasmania’s Breath of Life Festival in Launceston.
The band are rolling into their next festival commitment, co-headlining Queensland’s Big Pineapple Music Festival on Saturday 20th April, rocking the iconic tourist landmark alongside domestic favourites Grinspoon, Regurgitator, British India, and recent winners of the 8th Annual Australian Music Prize for their album HyperParadise, Hermitude.
Meanwhile Birds of Tokyo vocalist Ian Kenny’s other musical concern, Perth prog band Karnivool, are reportedly busily working away on the follow-up to their 2009 opus, Sound Awake. The outfit have been hinting at an impending release of their third album for some time, as well as the release of a live DVD sometime in the near future, as well as playing Queensland’s River Sessions Music Festival this June, alongside Bliss N Eso, Boy And Bear, and more.
