Did you make the cut? There were over 2,200 different artists played this year on triple j Unearthed, making it undeniably the best way for young Australian artists to get heard without having to jump through any of the hoops or battle the gatekeepers that controlled the Australian music industry in the past.

Pleasingly, 60% of the acts were female-fronted, which shouldn’t be something we need to point out or celebrate; nevertheless, this is the first year in Unearthed history that female singers have scored more airplay than males – a trend we hope continues.

Melbourne band songwriter Alex Lahey was the most-played artist on Unearthed in 2016, and responded to the news humbly.

Another Melbourne act, hiphop/R’n’B group Fortunes, were second-most played, with soul vocalist Wallace coming in at third. She has received some interest from BBC this year, too, with noted Radio 6 DJ Gilles Peterson exclaiming, “Wow, what a voice! Just good soul music!”

Check out the entire list below, along with some interesting statistics, and a Soundcloud playlist so you can spin all 50 – and discover your new favourite artist.

unearthed infographic

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