DMA'S Land First ARIA No. 1 After a Decade of Knocking on the Door
DMA'S have scored their first-ever ARIA Albums Chart No. 1 with their self-titled fourth studio album, published on the chart dated Friday, 28 August 2026 — a full decade and four albums into their career. The Sydney trio — Johnny Took (acoustic guitar, backing vocals), Matt Mason (lead guitar) and Tommy O'Dell (lead vocals) — had previously stalled at No. 2 twice, making this the summit after years of approaching it. Billboard
Their 2023 album How Many Dreams opened and peaked at No. 2, held off the top spot by Melanie Martinez's Portals. Their 2020 record The Glow also peaked at No. 2. Their debut, Hill's End, reached No. 8 back in 2016 — the same year their stripped-back cover of Cher's 'Believe' put them on the national radar. That cover later won triple j's inaugural 'Like A Version' Hottest 100 countdown in 2023, the same year DMA'S took home the ARIA Award for best group.
The new album is also their first on a major label. After three independent releases through I Oh You, part of the Mushroom Group, DMA'S signed a new deal with Wonderlick and Sony Music — their first time under a major-label umbrella. The shift coincided with another first: the band self-recorded the album in their own studio in the Sydney suburb of Glebe.
That studio carries its own history. It was established by Australian rock pioneer Col Joye and, over the years, hosted sessions with David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and the Bee Gees. DMA'S are now the latest name on that list, though the room's previous occupants had considerably more chart-topping experience by the time they walked in.
The self-titled record is only the second homegrown Australian album to top the ARIA chart in 2026, following Karnivool's In Verses, released via Cymatic Records and Sony Music in February. Since arriving with Hill's End in 2016, DMA'S have amassed over 535 million streams — a cumulative figure that tracks plays across platforms, converted by each service's own payout formula.
To support the album, the band have scheduled an east coast tour of Australia for November and December. Dates and venues were confirmed by Billboard's reporting on the chart result.
For a band that has spent ten years climbing from No. 8 to No. 2 and finally to the top, the chart dated 28 August 2026 closes a gap that two near-misses left open. The ARIA Albums Chart, compiled by the Australian Recording Industry Association, is Australia's standard weekly album ranking, combining physical sales, digital downloads and streaming equivalents into a single tally.
