With 2018 just around the corner, you probably want to make sure your playlists are looking as fresh and lively as possible. With festival road trip season coming up, you’d hate to be the friend that has nothing to offer than ‘Mr Brightside’ for 6 hours straight, so, expand your horizons.

The good people over at Google Play Music Australia have compiled a list of ‘Artists to Watch’ for 2018 factoring track performance on new-music playlists, popularity on Google Trends and YouTube to aggregate just who’ll come out on top next year. 

Here they are:

  1. Mansionair (Liberation)
  2. Ruel (Sony)
  3. Wafia (Future Classic)
  4. Novo Amor (AllPoints)
  5. Polaris (Cooking Vinyl)
  6. Mallrat (Dew Process)
  7. Baker Boy (Baker Boy)
  8. Kllo (Caroline)
  9. Tapz (100s + 1000s)
  10. Dagny (Universal)

Sitting pretty at number 1 is Sydney’s indietronica trio Masionair who last month scored a nomination for the Best Dance Recording Grammy Award for their contribution to ODESZA’s Line of Sight.

“After hiding in the studio for so long it means a lot to be selected as Google Play’s ‘Artist to Watch’ for 2018,” said Mansionair in a joint statement. “Seeing people react to Astronaut has only got us aching to release more music as it’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got so much to show you and we can’t wait for what 2018 may hold.”

Our other faves Polaris, Sydney’s finest metalcore exports also come in at number 5, hot off releasing their exceptional debut, The Mortal Coil. Also hitting the list hard is Mallrat, Brisbane’s very own queen of twinkly indietronica and smooth rap-sung vocals.

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