Troye Sivan's 'She's the Best' Debuts at No. 2 on ARIA Chart as Leland Reveals the Album's Queer Yearning

A Near-Miss at the Top Down Under

Troye Sivan has landed his fourth studio album, She's the Best, at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart, according to Billboard. The placement makes it his second-highest charting album in Australia to date, falling just shy of the No. 1 spot he claimed with 2023's Something To Give Each Other.

The Australian singer-songwriter, an eight-time ARIA Award winner, has built a steady upward trajectory on his home country's albums tally. His 2015 debut, Blue Neighbourhood, peaked at No. 6, while 2018's Bloom reached No. 3 before Something To Give Each Other gave him a week at the summit. She's the Best continues that climb, even as it yields to Olivia Dean's The Art Of Loving, which holds at No. 1 for a 15th non-consecutive week on the strength of her Australian arena tour.

An Album Built on Yearning

If the chart position tells one story, the album's creative origins tell another. In an interview with HuffPost, Los Angeles musician and producer Brett McLaughlin — known professionally as Leland — revealed that She's the Best was conceived as a portrait of queer longing. Sivan, he said, wanted to capture the "yearning and romanticism" he has experienced recently as a single gay man.

"It's an album of yearning, of wanting to find your other half, your partner in crime, and wishing you'd found them sooner," Leland told HuffPost. The songwriter, who has co-written for the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande and Charli XCX, described the creative mindset as one of deliberate reinvention: "The mindset was to challenge ourselves, to excite ourselves, to surprise ourselves and to not make anything we've made before. It's my favorite body of work we've ever made."

Leland co-wrote all 12 songs on the record, which Sivan himself described to NPR as "a love album to someone I don't know." That theme surfaces on wistful tracks like "Lost Time," a duet with Lily-Rose Depp, and "Cowboy."

Dance Floor Moments and A-List Co-Signs

For listeners craving the sleek, club-ready pop that has defined much of Sivan's catalog, She's the Best delivers. The single "Party" features a sample of Madonna's 2000 hit "Music" and arrives with a renaissance faire-inspired video that opens with an introduction from Ian McKellen. The album's title track, meanwhile, boasts a music video starring Nicole Kidman.

Leland explained that securing Madonna's approval for the "Music" sample came down to the efforts of both artists' management teams. The collaboration extended into the summer, when Leland performed a DJ set ahead of Madonna's appearance at a "Club Confessions" event in Amsterdam tied to Confessions II. "I love Madonna and have always wanted to be creative in her orbit, so it was one of those life moments that combined gratitude, appreciation, luck, and a little bit of imposter syndrome," he said. "It was the most nervous I'd ever been for a DJ set. It felt like I was walking into a spiritual space."

Another track drawing attention is "Canada Dry," which has been rumored to be inspired by Hudson Williams' character Shane Hollander from "Heated Rivalry."

A Twelve-Year Creative Partnership

The bond between Sivan and Leland stretches back to Blue Neighbourhood, and Leland credits their long friendship for the depth of their working relationship. "We would be friends even if we didn't make music," he told HuffPost. "We've navigated difficult chapters in life that are personal and that no one will ever know about. Of course we love creating art together, but at the end of the day ... we care about each other as people. We don't need anything from each other and we're not wrapped up in playing the game."

Leland also framed the album through the lens of the women who surround both artists. Describing She's the Best as "a love song performed by a gay man to a woman," he said: "I'm surrounded by incredible women, and so is Troye. As we both have been dating people and all of that, it dawned on us that ... as these boys come and go, the through line is powerful, funny, strong women."

What Comes Next

Leland's year has been prolific beyond his work with Sivan. He has served as resident songwriter for "RuPaul's Drag Race" since 2017, and his songwriting appeared on the soundtracks for the disaster comedy "Stop! That! Train!" and the FX thriller series "The Shards," co-created by Ryan Murphy. He also collaborated with Jack Antonoff on "Caught Myself Believing," performed by Bleachers for the "Practical Magic 2" soundtrack, with Sivan contributing backing vocals.

Later this year, Leland will begin work on his first stage musical in New York, with plans to release new music as a solo artist in 2027. He has also recently been in the studio with British pop singer Jade for the follow-up to her 2025 album, That's Showbiz Baby!

For Sivan, the No. 2 ARIA debut marks another strong chapter in a career that has consistently balanced mainstream pop ambition with deeply personal, queer storytelling — and She's the Best appears to be both at once.