CHART WATCH

There are still 19 tracks from Channel 9’s runaway ratings smash ‘The Voice’ in the ARIA top 100 singles chart this week, with one contestant in particular so very close to bagging a No.01 single. Over on the albums side of the draw, meanwhile, there are two top five debuts. From who and where? Welcome to this week’s Chart Watch.

SINGLES
With iTunes track purchases counting as two votes for contestants on the inaugural series of ‘The Voice’, you’d have to say that Team Seal songstress Karise Eden is the runaway favourite to take out this year’s competition, as she debuts at No.02 on this week’s ARIA singles chart with her version of the Leonard Cohen classic ‘Hallelujah’.
Her closest competitor from last week’s episode was Team Joel singer Sarah De Bono, who premiered all the way down at No.30 with her version of ‘Here’s Where I Stand’.
New entries into the top ten, meanwhile, with Rita Ora’s ‘How We Do (Party)’ rising from No.20 to No.09 and Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pound The Alarm’ jumping from No.33 to No.10.
Coldplay has another top 20 hit on their hands with new single ‘Princess Of China’, which rises a further four places and now sits at No.17, while T-Pain’s latest ‘Turn The Lights On’ suffers a resurgence, edging back to No.20.
Darren Percival’s cover of ‘I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)’ slides from No.06 to No.21, but reversing the trend are will.i.am with Eva Simons and ‘This Is Love’ (No.42 to No.22) and Train’s ‘Drive By’, which reappears in the top 50 at No.25 thanks to their tour (and a performance on last week’s ‘Dancing With The Stars’.
Also improving this week is US duo Karmin, whose single ‘Brokenhearted’ rises from No.37 to No.28 (you can check out our recent interview with Karmin HERE).
Justin Bieber’s ploy of releasing one track a week from his new album ‘Believe’ has garnered mixed results – the latest (‘As Long As You Love Me’) premiering at No.33 in the week prior to the album’s release.
More ‘The Voice’ action… Darren Percival’s ‘A Song For You’ is in at No.36, Ben Hazlewood’s ‘I’m With You’ plunges from No.17 to No.41 and Rachael Leahcar’s ‘Nights In White Satin (Notte Di Luce)’ is in at No.43. Adam Martin’s performance of ‘Romeo And Juliet’ drops from No.26 to No.50; Sarah De Bono’s ‘Listen’ down from No.24 to No.51.
Also outside the top 50 this week, Rudimental’s single ‘Feel The Love’ debuts at No.55, Train’s new single ’50 Ways To Say Goodbye’ is in at No.58 and Clare Bowditch’s new single ‘You Make Me Happy’ improves from No.90 to No.61 in its second week.
Drops for Kylie’s ‘Timebomb’ (No.44 to No.71) and Lakyn Heperi’s ‘Friday I’m In Love’ (No.39 to No.72), but Cher Lloyd is still hanging on with ‘Want U Back’ (up nine places to No.76).
Two more top 100 debuts – Wiz Khalifa’s ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’ at No.93 and Knife Party’s ‘Rage Valley’ at No.97.

ALBUMS
On the albums side of the draw, Missy Higgins debuted in the No.01 position last week, but was under threat this week from both Xavier Rudd and Usher and their respective new albums ‘Spirit Bird’ and ‘Looking 4 Myself’. But she managed to hold them both at bay with ‘The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle’ and spend a second week on top, picking up a gold sales accreditation in the process.
Xavier and Usher premiered as Nos.02 and 03 respectively.
With an upcoming tour, The Black Keys’ album ‘El Camino’ improved to No.07 this week, with Train’s visit sparking renewed interest in their album ‘California 37’, which improves from No.63 to No.09.
Discounting of Rebecca Ferguson’s album ‘Heaven’ continues to pay dividends, with the album reaching a new peak this week of No.14. Hot Chip’s ‘In Our Heads’ splashes into the countdown at No.19.
A couple of soundtracks do the business this week, with ‘Rock Of Ages’ debuting in the No.33 position and the third volume of ‘Offspring’ rocketing from a No.100 debut to No.34 in its second week.
The Hives’ new album ‘Lex Hives’ is in at No.38, the beginning of her national tour sees Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ back in the top 100 at No.45 and Patti Smith’s ‘Banga’ proves more of a dull rattle – premiering at No.50.
Outside the top 50, re-entries for Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (‘Rrakala’ at No.51 and ‘Gurrumul’ at No.55), followed closely behind by a debut for Jonathan Boulet’s new album ‘We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart’ (No.57).
Simple Plan’s ‘Get Your Heart On’ rises from No.94 to No.59, Rumer’s newbie , ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is in at No.63, but the news isn’t so good for Alston’s album ‘Don’t Funk With Me’, which after hovering around the teens for the best part of the last seven weeks plummets from No.16 to No.67.
Sigur Ros’ ‘Valtari’ also slides – No.38 to No.70, so too The Bamboos’ ‘Medicine Man’ (No.28 to No.75), Ladyhawke’s ‘Anxiety’ (No.59 to No.92), Sam Sparro’s ‘Return To Paradise’ (No.41 to No.95) and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ ‘Here’ (No.37 to No.96).
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’ ‘Trouble’ debuted in the middle of them all at No.93.
Bad news for Buried In Verona’s new album ‘Notorious’, however. After premiering at No.20 last week, it’s gone from the top 100 altogether this week.

For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to www.ariacharts.com.au each and every Sunday from 6:30pm AEST.

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