Empire of the Sun

This article is about the Australian music project Empire of the Sun , for the eponymous film by Steven Spielberg see Empire of the Sun .

Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun live in Perth (2009)
General information
Genre (s)	Synthpop , synth rock
founding	2007
Website	empireofthesun.com
Current occupation
Singing, guitar, piano, synthesizer	Luke Steele
Vocals, drums, synthesizers	Nick Littlemore

Empire of the Sun ( English for 'Empire of the Sun') is an Australian music project. It was founded in 2007 by Luke Steele , the singer of the alternative rock - band The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore (* 6. May 1978 ), one half of the band Pnau established, and follows musically similar electro style as Little More's main project.

Surname

During a TV interview for the broadcaster ARTE , the band announced that their name was not inspired by Ballard's novel or Spielberg 's film of the same name . Rather, it is about the sun as a connecting element for the whole universe.

history

After working on their first album, Empire of the Sun released the single Walking on a Dream on August 30, 2008 . It was received positively by Australian radio stations and reached number 10 on the Australian singles chart. The album Walking on a Dream , released five weeks later, went straight to number 8. On February 21, 2009, the second single We Are the People was released. However, the song only reached number 65 in Germany.

For the solar eclipse of July 22nd, 2009 , the band showed an internet broadcast in the style of a black-and-white appearance, in which only Luke Steele and his wife can be seen. It was distributed via the “Eclipse of the Sun” website and uploaded to popular platforms. The songs Breakdown and Swordfish Hotkiss Night are played in it.

In 2009, the car company Hyundai accompanied its television commercial with the title Walking on a Dream . At the end of 2010, the telecommunications provider Vodafone used the title We Are the People in an advertising campaign that ran on German television from October 27, 2010. Shortly after it was first broadcast in Germany, the song reached number 1 in the sales charts of the iTunes download portal . After re-entering the German single charts , it also reached number 1 there in early December . In the third calendar week of 2011 it became known that over 300,000 units could be sold in Germany alone, so that the single achieved platinum status .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	AU
2008	Walking on a dream	DE31 gold (22 weeks)DE	AT22 (14 weeks) AT	CH15 (32 weeks) CH	UK19th gold (26 weeks)UK	US97 gold (3 weeks)US	AU6th × 3 Triple platinum (54 weeks)AU	First published: October 3, 2008
2013	Ice on the Dune	DE34 (3 weeks) DE	AT37 (1 week) AT	CH7 (9 weeks) CH	UK24 (2 weeks) UK	US20 (3 weeks) US	AU3 gold (7 weeks)AU	First published: June 14, 2013
2016	Two vines	-	-	CH42 (1 week) CH	UK42 (1 week) UK	US51 (1 week) US	AU7 (3 weeks) AU	First published: October 28, 2016

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	AU
2008	Walking on a Dream Walking on a Dream	DE55 (13 weeks) DE	-	CH21 (33 weeks) CH	UK64 gold (9 weeks)UK	US65 platinum (5 weeks)US	AU10 × 5 Quintuple platinum (34 weeks)AU	First published: August 30, 2008 in US only placed in 2016
	We Are the People Walking on a Dream	DE1 × 3 Triple gold (52 weeks)DE	AT2 gold (25 weeks)AT	CH20th gold (45 weeks)CH	UK14th gold (21 weeks)UK	-	AU24 × 2 Double platinum (17 weeks)AU	First published: September 20, 2008
2013	Alive Ice on the Dune	DE39 (17 weeks) DE	AT16 (17 weeks) AT	CH25 (16 weeks) CH	UK83 (1 week) UK	US- gold US	AU22nd × 2 Double platinum (13 weeks)AU	First published: April 15, 2013
2016	High and Low Two Vines	-	-	-	-	-	AU- gold AU	First published: August 24, 2016

More singles

• 2009: Standing on the Shore (Walking on a Dream)
• 2009: Without You (Walking on a Dream)
• 2010: Half Mast (Slight Return) (Walking on a Dream)
• 2013: DNA (Ice on the Dune)
• 2014: Celebrate (Ice on the Dune)
• 2016: To Her (Door Two Vines)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Italy 2016: for the single Walking on a Dream

Platinum record  Italy 2013: for the single Alive

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	2 × gold2	12 × platinum12	910,000	aria.com.au
Germany (BVMI)	2 × gold2	platinum1	550,000	musikindustrie.de
Italy (FIMI)	gold1	platinum1	55,000	fimi.it
Austria (IFPI)	gold1	-	15,000	ifpi.at
Switzerland (IFPI)	gold1	-	15,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	2 × gold2	platinum1	2,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	3 × gold3	-	900,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	12 × gold12	15 × platinum15th

Web links

Commons : Empire of the Sun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• Eclipse broadcast on Youtube
• Empire of the Sun record review on lifestyle-mag.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Empire of the Sun: Platinum for We Are The People . January 20, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US AU