2022 featured some fantastic music that captivated the Australian music industry. From Vance Joy to Guy Sebastian, the music industry was bursting at the seams with talent. The ARIA End of Decade Australian singles chart did not just acknowledge these artists but also highlighted the fantastic music they produced. Pakistani-born Australian musician Mahmood Khan is one of the chosen artists who had a remarkable year on the charts, achieving a level of success that the artist had never experienced before.
This multi-talented artist has a long history of success in the music industry, spanning over a decade. Mahmood has produced and written several Australian and international chart-topping songs and collaborated with some of the most successful music artists, including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, hitting the top 5 on the USA iTunes Jazz charts. His classical crossover ‘Mahmood Khan with Willoughby Symphony Orchestra ‘received an overwhelming response from the public, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover Chart for several weeks.
But Mahmood is such a prolific artist, his chart-impacting history is constantly being re-written, and with the nature of charts and record releases that identifies the music business today, it’s a history that is getting updated almost in real-time. For example, just this week, two tracks from further back in Mahmood’s music catalogue, Jagamarra, and Sydney, are in the top ten Classical iTunes USA charts. This is not only an astounding feat for any Australian music artist, but it is even more impressive considering what Mahmood is typically known for writing mesmerizingly poignant world pop songs. Not only do his releases impact several territories, but they also cover a mixture of genres. To list all the songs that have propelled Mahmood’s name into the history books would take up a lot of space, but to name a few would reveal the true scope of this indelible chart-busting musician’s achievements. These include, Blue Snow (#7), Innocence (#15), Battle is Uphill (#5), Imaginary Friend (#1), Little Bed (#4), Chel Drup EP (3 singles in top # 20), Jahan tu nahi (#12 Billboard charts), and Imaginary Friend EP (#1 US Jazz). There are some periods when Mahmood has had multiple charting tracks, including in April of this year with six songs, including Ginno (#4), One Line Down (#5), Merry Go Round (#9), Merry Go Round (ukulele #8), Tere ooper chaon (#6), Din jagay (#7) appearing in the top ten. There are also albums that have gone to number one, including Mahmood’s work with the Willoughby Symphony and his album Tere Baghair, incredibly landing the highly coveted #1 spot on iTunes U.S. chart (6 June 2020). There are also record-breaking impacts, including Ginoo (#4 Billboard Singles Chart) becoming the first Urdu song in history to crack the Billboard charts and Merry Go Round charting with two different versions in both the commercial and independent charts.
Khan is an authentic musician known for his classical crossover style of songwriting. His musical palette incorporates elements of the soul, pop, and jazz elements. Khan is a virtuoso who can flawlessly deliver vocals while launching into an intense instrumental jam. This has allowed him to transcend genres and reach a vast audience. His unique compositional style is accompanied by his mesmerizing performance skills that have captivated audiences worldwide.
