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ABC News
ABC News
Entertainment
Paul Donoughue

When was the last golden age for Australian hit songs?

The ARIAs are almost upon us for another year, with Amy Shark and Courtney Barnett leading the nominations to take out one of the premier awards for Australian music.

But as the industry celebrates its own, there remains concern about how to boost it in the digital age.

Last year, no Australian artist had a number one single in this country. This year, so far, we have had two — 5 Seconds Of Summer and Dean Lewis.

It's a similar trend across the top 50, with just six of the songs in last week's singles chart coming from an Australian act.

Numerous factors have been blamed, from the rise of streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music, where popular playlists may be curated overseas, to the amount of Australian music played on commercial radio.

As a Federal Government inquiry looks at what can be done to boost Australian music, here's the state of play over the past two decades.

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Want more charts?

This is part of a new daily series featuring charts which tell a story. If you know of some data that fits the bill, we'd love to hear about it.

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