Triple J Tap Vacations After Over One Billion Streams

Newcastle hitmakers Vacations are celebrating today after the national broadcaster finally added a song to rotation on their playlist. 

The self-described 'woozy guitar pop' band, who are gearing up for a 38 date tour of the US this Australian spring have been smashing out songs since 2015 and have become one of Australia's biggest bands. 

Their single Young became a viral hit, currently sitting on over 420 million streams on Spotify alone. Proof that a band can convert viral success into an actual and global fan base, Vacations backed up the success with Telephones from their debut 2018 album Changes currently sitting on over 230 million Spotify streams. 

The album catapulted the band to being one of the most-played Australian acts on Spotify. This month according to Chartmetric, the band had just shy of 9 million monthly listeners, placing them in the top 40 most played Australian artists, sitting just above King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Nick Cave and only just behind Savage Garden. 

After a dozen singles with over a billion streams combined, Triple J toyed with previous single Next Exit, giving it spot play, repeating the feat with the new single Midwest making it to a spot add before the dam broke this morning, with the broadcaster finally putting it into rotation. 

While many will question the hold-out, the big lesson for bands is that Triple J refusing to support you isn't the reason your band isn't succeeding. While Vacations are gratefully popping the champagne today, the reality is that the band plotted a path for themselves without the help of radio. With sold out tours around the world and a streaming income that would give them far more than would be needed to quit that cafe job, the band is an inspiration to those acts that believe in themselves, even with the national broadcaster refuses to. 

It's not the first time Triple J has held out on a band that the rest of the country has embraced. Lime Cordiale, now held up as darlings of Triple J are often forgotten as being outcasts for their first few EPs. Fan favourites like Bullshit Aside, Hanging Upside Down, Not That Easy, Sleeping At Your Door and Temper Temper all got largely ignored by Triple J along with their debut album Permanent Vacation. Meanwhile the album hit the ARIA chart, the band racked up millions of streams and the band were selling out shows across the country. 

It wasn't until the dam broke with Dirt Cheap in 2018 that Triple J jumped on board the already fast-moving train, with the song hitting the Hottest 100 and the station supporting every single since, even awarding their 2021 album 14 Steps To A Better You the coveted J Award for Album of the Year. 

The lesson? Sometimes Triple J don't get it right straight away, but it doesn't mean the market won't decide. Sometimes radio will break your band and sometimes your band will break radio. 

Congratulations to Vacations!