Breakthrough Artist winner breaks Lorde’s NZ chart record

Just one week after taking home the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award at the 51st Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, Auckland artist and producer KINGS now holds the record for longest-running #1 in the country.

KINGS, aka Kingsdon Chapple-Wilson, dethrones Lorde’s breakout hit Royals, which spent 18 weeks as the #1 New Zealand single. KINGS Platinum-certified single Don’t Worry ‘Bout It has now spent 19 weeks at #1 on the Official NZ Music Charts and has been streamed over3.8 milliontimes onSpotify.

KINGS wrote, produced, sang and played every instrument on Don’t Worry Bout’ It. He recorded the video on his iPhone during a trip to Fiji and edited it himself. The clip has now amassed over 720,000 views on YouTube.

KINGS is New Zealand’s most successful export of 2016, having inked deals with Ministry of Sound Australia’s Astrx label, Universal Music in Germany and Warner Music in New Zealand.

Ministry of Sound Australia Head of A&R, Jeff Drake, told TMNthe label discovered KINGS after seeing the personal iPhone upload of the clip for Don’t Worry ’Bout It.

“When you discover an artist like KINGS, it is impossible to not be completely captivated by his seemingly limitless talent and charm,” said Drake. “His music is 100% him from the vocals to the mixing to the videos and it speaks from the heart.”

While the single has now clocked up over 5 million streams globally, the groundswell for the track began when New Zealand radio station George FM kicked off its hometown success with early support of the song through 2015.

Then, as Drake tells TMN, after presenting the song at the International Music Summit in Ibiza earlier this year, the reaction from the wider music industry was immediate. It led to Ministry of Sound signing the track and KING’s forthcoming EP to Universal Germany for a European release.