Opera trio beat Lorde to top of pops

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

22 Dec, 2013 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Sol3 Mio - brothers (from left) Amitai and Pene Pati and cousin Moses Mackay - outshone Lorde.

Sol3 Mio claim NZ album of year title ahead of teen sensation

Fun-loving Auckland opera trio Sol3 Mio have headed off pop star Lorde to claim the number-one Kiwi album of the year - but don't ask how they did it.

"We really don't know why it's gone so crazy - I don't have an answer for that one," said Moses Mackay, who makes up the hit group with his cousins, South Auckland brothers Amitai and Pene Pati.

The group have topped the New Zealand Albums Chart for the year, for both the number-one album and number-one Kiwi album.

Their debut album, recorded at Real World Studios in the UK, was this year's fastest-selling record, ranking at number one after being on sale for just five weeks.

"It was a complete surprise for us," said Mackay, whose cousins have returned to their opera studies in Wales over the summer ahead of a national tour next year. "We had a little bit of feeling that maybe a few thousand albums might sell, just to people we'd met along the way, but to see it take off so fast, and on such a grand scale, really took us back."

Their name is a play on the Neapolitan standard O sole mio, the first thing they sang on stage together, while the 3 is for the trio and "sole" is Samoan slang for boy or brother.

Mackay said as of this year, every show had been a sell-out.

"I don't know what it is - I guess it's just us mucking around on the stage and enjoying what we do."

Unsurprisingly, Kiwi pop prodigy Lorde also enjoyed a strong year in the Kiwi charts.

The North Shore teen dominates the 2013 charts, taking out the No 2 and No 5 album spots for Pure Heroine and The Love Club EP respectively. She also claims the No 2 single for Royals.

Joining the ranks of leading Kiwi solo female artists is Los Angeles-based Ginny Blackmore, who grabbed a top spot on the singles chart this year with Bones.

The X Factor NZ winner Jackie Thomas also had her debut hit It's Worth It at No 1 on the singles chart for two weeks.

Last year's chart-topper, Adele, made the list again, breaking even more records. Her album 21 now holds the record for the most consecutive weeks on the chart, with 150.