Artist · chart history
SAFIA
Band Canberra Australia Formed 2009
SAFIA formed in 2009 in Canberra, Australia. SAFIA has 7 chart appearances on 4 radio countdowns from 1 station on RockLists, spanning 2013–2016. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Embracing Me”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #23. The station that charted SAFIA most often is Triple J (Australia (national)), with 7 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2015.
SAFIA are the Canberra band of singer Ben Woolner-Kirkham, Harry Sayers on synths and guitar and Michael Bell on drums, and since forming in 2009 they've been chasing the place where glossy electronica meets indie pop's big feelings. The name came from a song of theirs called "Sapphire" and was meant to mean nothing; they found out later that safia means serenity in Arabic. They name-check Purity Ring, Major Lazer, Feed Me, Chet Faker, Disclosure and James Blake as influences, and you can hear that mix of pristine production and heart-on-sleeve vocals everywhere.
They won the Groovin' the Moo competition in 2012, early tracks like "Listen to Soul, Listen to Blues" and "Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds" followed, and in 2014 they turned up on Peking Duk's top-10 single "Take Me Over". Woolner even moonlighted that year as Benjamin Joseph, guesting on Indian Summer's "Aged Care".
2016 was the payoff: the Embracing Me EP, with "Make Them Wheels Roll" and "Counting Sheep", and then the debut album Internal, out on 9 September and all the way up to number 2 on the ARIA chart, carrying "My Love Is Gone" and "Over You". In 2017 they opened for Twenty One Pilots on the Pacific leg of that band's tour, and "Freakin' Out" in 2018 was the first song they wrote after Internal.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by SAFIA on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Embracing Me | 1 | #23 | – | 2015 | |
| 2 | Make Them Wheels Roll | 1 | #26 | – | 2016 | |
| 3 | Counting Sheep | 1 | #35 | – | 2015 | |
| 4 | Listen to Soul, Listen to Blues | 1 | #76 | – | 2013 | |
| 5 | My Love Is Gone | 1 | #85 | – | 2016 | |
| 6 | Over You | 1 | #89 | – | 2016 | |
| 7 | Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds | 1 | #96 | – | 2014 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Featured on
Songs by other artists credited with SAFIA as a guest.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 26 | Make Them Wheels Roll | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2016 |
| 2016 | 85 | My Love Is Gone | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2016 |
| 2016 | 89 | Over You | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2016 |
| 2015 | 23 | Embracing Me | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2015 |
| 2015 | 35 | Counting Sheep | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2015 |
| 2014 | 96 | Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2014 |
| 2013 | 76 | Listen to Soul, Listen to Blues | Triple J Hottest 100 of 2013 |
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