Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian singer who rose to fame after winning the first season of Australian Idol, in 2003. Sebastian has since released ten top ten albums, including three number ones. The first seven all gained either platinum or multi-platinum certification. He has also achieved twenty three top twenty singles, with fourteen of them, reaching the top ten, including six number ones. He is the only Australian male artist in Australian chart history to achieve six number one singles, and places third overall for all Australian acts. Ten of his singles have been certified multi-platinum, including the 13× platinum "Battle Scars". His debut single "Angels Brought Me Here" was the highest selling song in Australia in the decade 2000 to 2009. With 69 platinum and seven gold certifications and combined album and single sales of over five million in Australia, he has the highest certifications and sales of any Australian Idol contestant.
Australian Idol was a televised talent contest, screened on Channel Ten for seven seasons between 2003 and 2009. Several contestants were signed to record labels, while others released their music independently. Since 2003 Australian Idol acts have placed well on the Australian music charts, with 35 number ones and 158 platinum and 41 gold certifications. Eight Idol releases appeared in the 2000 – 2009 ARIA End of Decade Charts, and 24 releases have been nominated for Highest Selling ARIA Music Awards. Idol contestants have also been nominated for 33 ARIA Awards in public vote categories, where the nominees are most commonly selected from the highest selling acts of the year. There have also been 48 industry judged ARIA Award nominations. To date there have been 11 wins in sales and public vote categories, and in 2013 season one winner Guy Sebastian and season four runner up Jessica Mauboy became the first Idol contestants to win industry voted ARIA Awards.
The discography of Guy Sebastian, an Australian singer, consists of nine studio albums, one compilation album, one live album, three EPs and 57 singles, including six as a featured artist and four charity singles. Sebastian won the first series of Australian Idol in 2003, and gained a record deal with Sony BMG. He has released ten albums which peaked in the top six of the ARIA Charts, including three which reached number one. The first seven achieved either platinum or multi-platinum certification. He has also released twenty three top twenty singles in Australia, with fourteen reaching the top ten, including six number ones. Sebastian is the only Australian male artist in Australian chart history to achieve six number-one singles, and is third overall for all Australian acts with only Kylie Minogue and Delta Goodrem having achieved more. He has also reached the top ten of the New Zealand charts with an album and six singles, including two number ones. Sebastian has sixty-nine platinum and seven gold certifications in Australia, the highest number for an Australian Idol contestant. "Battle Scars", a collaboration with Lupe Fiasco, spent 20 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 71 and achieving platinum certification. It also reached number 2 in Norway.
"La voix" is a song by Swedish singer Malena Ernman, which served as the Swedish entry at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Moscow, Russia. It was composed by Fredrik Kempe, with lyrics by both Kempe and Ernman. It is the first Swedish entry to contain lyrics in French, as well as being the last Swedish entry to have contained lyrics in a language other than English. Despite the fact that France's Patricia Kaas would get a relatively good placing in the final, Ernman drew further attention to Francophone culture in the semi-final, as well in the grand final, despite her ultimate placing (21st).
"Only Teardrops" is a song recorded by Danish singer Emmelie de Forest, written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen, and Thomas Stengaard, and produced by Frederik Thaae. It represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Malmö, resulting in the country's third win in the contest.
"Like a Drum" is a song by Australian recording artist Guy Sebastian released digitally in Australia on 25 October 2013. It debuted at number four on the ARIA Singles Chart, Sebastian's twelfth top ten single in Australia, and has been certified 4× platinum. It also reached number 13 and gold certification on the New Zealand Singles Chart and has been certified platinum in Sweden.
Australia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since its debut in 2015. The Australian participant broadcaster in the contest is the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) who received special approval from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to participate. Australia is the only country outside the European Broadcasting Area to have ever competed in Eurovision.
Australia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 by invitation from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as a "one-off" special guest to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision. The country participated with the song "Tonight Again" written by Guy Sebastian, David Ryan Harris and Louis Schoorl. The song was performed by Guy Sebastian, who was internally selected by the Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) to represent that nation at the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. Sebastian was announced as the Australian representative on 3 March 2015 during a press conference in Sydney. The song Sebastian performed, "Tonight Again", was presented to the public on 16 March 2015. The Australian coloratura soprano of Armenian descent Mary-Jean O'Doherty also participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 contest as part of the group Genealogy representing Armenia, but this marked the first time that the country has officially participated.
"Heroes" is a song recorded by Swedish singer Måns Zelmerlöw written and composed by Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Joy Deb, and Linnea Deb. It was released on 28 February 2015 as a digital download in Sweden. It won the Melodifestivalen 2015 and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 held in Vienna, which it also won. It is the lead single for Zelmerlöw's sixth studio album Perfectly Damaged.
"You Are the Only One" is a song recorded by Russian singer Sergey Lazarev with music composed by Philipp Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos and English lyrics written by John Ballard and Ralph Charlie. It represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 held in Stockholm. The song was released as a digital download on 5 March 2016. On 28 July 2016, Lazarev released a Russian version of the song, entitled "Pust' ves' mir podozhdyot".
"Sound of Silence" is a song performed by Australian recording artist Dami Im. Written by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci of DNA Songs, it is best known as Australia's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 which was held in Stockholm, Sweden, where it finished 2nd, receiving a total of 511 points. The song also won the Marcel Bezençon Award in the composer category. The song was leaked on 10 March 2016, one day before its initial release date. It is Dami Im's fourth Australian top 20 hit and worldwide, it reached the top 40 in more than six countries after the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Final.
The following is a list of notable events and releases that happened in 2015 in music in Australia.
Isaiah Firebrace is an Australian singer who won the eighth season of The X Factor Australia in 2016. He then represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Don't Come Easy", where he finished 9th.
"Occidentali's Karma" is a song performed by Italian singer Francesco Gabbani. The song was released as a digital download on 10 February 2017 through BMG Rights Management as the lead single from his third studio album Magellano (2017). The song was written by Gabbani, Filippo Gabbani, Fabio Ilacqua, and Luca Chiaravalli. It won the Sanremo Music Festival 2017 and represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, finishing in sixth place.
"I Can't Go On" is a song recorded by Swedish singer Robin Bengtsson. The song was released as a digital download in Sweden on 26 February 2017 and peaked at number three on the Swedish Singles Chart. It won Melodifestivalen 2017 and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The song is written by David Kreuger, Hamed "K-One" Pirouzpanah, and Robin Stjernberg.
"Nobody but You" is a song by Austrian singer Cesár Sampson. The song represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The song title was revealed to the public on 7 December 2017, and was composed by Sampson himself, Borislav Milanov and Sebastian Arman, and by Swedish songwriter Joacim Persson who has been involved in the composition of a number of songs for Bulgaria, notably Poli Genova's Eurovision 2016 entry "If Love Was a Crime" and in Kristian Kostov's Eurovision 2017 entry "Beautiful Mess" and by Swedish songwriter Johan Alkenäs. "Nobody but You" was released on 9 March 2018.
"Lie to Me" is a song written and performed by Czech singer Mikolas Josef. The song was independently released as a digital download on 19 November 2017. It represented the Czech Republic in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, where it qualified for the final, finishing sixth, making it the Czech Republic's best placing in the contest.
"You Let Me Walk Alone" is a song by German singer Michael Schulte. Conceived during a songwriting camp in the run-up to Unser Lied für Lissabon, the German national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, it was written by Schulte along with Thomas Stengaard, Nisse Ingwersen, and Katharina "Nina" Müller, while production was helmed by Stengaard, Jan-Philipp Kelber, and Joachim Schlüter. A tribute to Schulte's father, who died when the singer was 14, the song is an emotive piano ballad.
"Promise" is a song by Australian progressive rock band Voyager, released on 21 February 2023. The song represented Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 after the band was internally selected by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia's broadcaster for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was included on the band's eighth studio album, Fearless in Love. The song entered the charts in Australia, UK, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania and Sweden.
