Tongan-Australian musicians and siblings, Vika and Linda Bull have reached number one on the Australian Aria charts with their new album ‘Akilotoa.

The album is an anthology of their greatest hits from 1994 to 2006, including a Tongan song ‘Akilotoa.

The sisters are very proud of their achievement and said on their facebook page [2] “To reach number one 35 years after we started is a big deal for us”.

“We’re in our fifties and we’re number one, we don’t take that lightly.”

Vika and Linda are well known in Australian music, and started singing with their mother, Siniva (from Vava'u) at their Tongan community church in Melbourne at a young age. She taught them how to harmonise.

"We were made to go to church. It wasn't our choice but, we were mainly forced to sit down and listen to the choir because dad loved the singing so much," Vika told the ABC on 23 June.

"Mum is a great singer with a powerful voice so she taught us how to sing in harmony - she knew I had the high voice and, she knew Linda had the low voice so she would teach us our parts and it started from there," said Vika. 

Over their career, the sisters have been praised by artists like Paul Kelly and Archie Roach for their harmonies.

Linda said the reason they called the album ‘Akilotoa is because “we are Tonga Australians”.

“We wanted Tonga represented and we wanted Australia represented.”

“There are songs on the record that were influenced very heavily by Tongan culture.”

The track ‘Akilotoa was a song the siblings listened to growing up and wanted to include it on the album.

"Mum had to explain what the song was about before we attacked it ourselves or, should I say slaughtered it.”

"We mispronounced one vowel or left off something and mum said 'you stuffed it up - the opening line is 'this is my life' and you sing 'this is my behind!'" they told the ABC laughing.

The sisters said they could not re-record the song because the album had been finalized.

Twenty-eight songs from their career are featured on the new album, which is also available on streaming services.