How Lime Cordiale Broke the ARIA Chart Drought With ‘Enough of the Sweet Talk’
Thanks to a national drenching of Lime Cordiale, the months-long ARIA Chart drought is over.
With Enough of the Sweet Talk, the Leimbach brothers blast to No. 1 on the latest tally, published Friday, Aug. 2, ending a painfully dry spell for homegrown artists.
The last Australian act to reign over the ARIA Chart was Troye Sivan with Something to Give Each Other, from October 2023 – some 10 months ago.
“Anything less than this No. 1 result for Lime Cordiale would have been a disservice to the band, their fans, and our team who worked so hard on this release,” Chugg Music co-founder Andrew Stone tells The Music Network.
“I’ve seen a lot of doom and gloom about Australian artists not going No. 1 and we surely have some international streaming giants to compete with,” says Stone, winner of artist manager of the year at the 2023 AAM Awards, “but it just means we have to work harder and continue to tell great Australian stories.”
The secret sauce? Pure, unfiltered hard work from the brothers and their support network.
“I’m proud that we are 100% independent and have a team that fought for every sale and built this from the grassroots up over many years,” adds Stone.
“The band worked their ass off and played over 25 in-person events as well as going live on Instagram and Tiktok every night throughout the campaign weeks, signing vinyl and CDs for fans.”
Enough of the Sweet Talk is the indie rockers’ third studio album, and second leader after the ARIA Award-winning 2020 collection 14 Steps to a Better You.
And with that latest result, Lime Cordiale crack a piece of chart history.
The Sydney act is the first recipient of the ARIA Australian Chart No. 1 Award, presented for the first time last Friday to recognise the biggest hitters from the land Down Under.
“We’ve worked so hard with Chugg Music at pushing this as hard as it can go,” the lads explain in a statement.
Hitting No. 1, and holding off hit LPs from American acts Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Eminem and Chappell Roan, respectively, is “an outstanding achievement,” enthuses ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd, “everyone at ARIA is so happy for them and their team.”
Lime Cordiale’s story was a slow-burner before it became a page-turner.
Legendary concert promoter Michael Chugg discovered and signed the band to his fledgling label and management enterprise back in 2013.
Four years later, the Lime Cordiale’s first album release, 2017’s Permanent Vacation, had a forgettable opening on the ARIA Chart, at No. 79.
The artists and their reps didn’t give up. Then, as TMN explained in a 2018 analysis, streams and followers clamored, ticket sales heated up, and “listeners were bouncing from other hot Aussie acts, all of it fuelled by Spotify, YouTube and Apple’s discovery algorithms.”
Today, Lime Cordiale has amassed over 500 million streams on Spotify, 40 million plays on Apple Music, and upwards of 30 million views on YouTube.
Stone pays tribute to the behind-the-scenes work of Maddy Hume at Chugg Music plus The Annex, Positive Feedback and MGM, and myriad DSPs, radio, retail, touring, publishing and online partners who worked on the grassroots campaign for the two months since announce.
“It’s no longer about convincing some stuffy gatekeeper on the value of your art,” notes Stone. “It’s about real audiences, connection, and being able to put the work in to compete at the highest level.”
Lime Cordiale will hit the road later this year for a national tour — their biggest shows to-date — in support of Enough of the Sweet Talk, kicking off on October 3rd 3 at Perth’s HBF Stadium. Ball Park Music are “special guests” on all dates. Then, four shows in New Zealand.
Announcing our biggest shows to date.
— Lime Cordiale (@limecordiale) May 30, 2024
We haven’t toured Australia and New Zealand properly in a long time so we’re stoked to be back on home soil. One of our all time favourites @ballparkmusic are joining us in Aus – can’t believe that is actually happening. pic.twitter.com/JKJNaTbekY
But first, a pan-European trek with Coterie, starting August 18th at Hamburg’s Dockville, and wrapping September 21st at Ballroom at Dreamland, in Margate.
“The first time I saw these long-haired surfy kids 12 years ago I knew there was something extra special going to happen,” recounts Chugg. “And against all the odds that are currently facing Australian music they’ve just kicked the biggest goal of all.
“The first Australian act to hit mainstream No. 1 this year. I’m very proud of the 25 games they played in one week in between a world tour of their friends’ weddings. They keep me young.”
Lime Cordiale’s 2024 Australia tour
Thursday, October 3rd – HBF Stadium, Perth, WA
Saturday, October 5th – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, SA
Tuesday, October 8th – John Cain Arena, Melbourne, VIC
Friday, October 11th – ICC Sydney Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Sunday, October 13th – Riverstage, Brisbane, QLD