CHART WATCH

Steady as she goes for two superstars on top of the ARIA singles chart, while a fan favourite makes it to the top with an ARIA No.1 album. It’s that time of the week again… Chart Watch!

SINGLES
They must be doing alright for themselves, Eminem and Rihanna. Their single really does appear (chartwise) ‘The Monster’ it’s so named after. After smashing through the gold sales accreditation mark last week (35,000 copies), this week they’ve followed it up with a platinum accreditation, taking the total thus far to more than 70,000 copies in just four weeks. Katy Perry remains at two with ‘Roar’, with Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’ replacing Taylor Henderson’s ‘Borrow My Heart’ at No.3.
The movers and shakers shuffling into the top ten this week are Bastille, whose Snap/Corona mash-up ‘Of The Night’ improves seven spots on last week’s No.13 debut, followed closely by Guy Sebastian’s ‘Like A Drum’ (No.12 to No.7) and One Direction’s ‘Story Of My Life’.
‘Everybody’ put your hands together for Justice Crew; their new single still in the top ten, now with a shiny new platinum accreditation to its name.
James Blunt’s ‘Bonfire Heart’ improves from No.16 to No.11, Havana Brown’s ‘Warrior’ hits a new peak of No.12 and John Legend’s only Aussie chart hit ever (‘All Of Me’) is up (mightily) from No.37 to No.13.
Samantha Jade scores the week’s highest debut with her new tune ‘Soldier’ at No.17.
Imagine Dragons’ ‘Demons’ is up (No.30 to No.21), but Dami Im’s ‘Alive’ is down (No.7 to No.22). And what does the fox say? We have no idea, but the novelty hit now does so knowing it’s a bonafide platinum hit in Australia (steady at No.24).
A promotional visit sees Birdy’s ‘Wings’ bullet from No.76 to No.25, Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’ (No.22 to No.27) is now seven times platinum and approaching the magic half million mark and Sony has a hit on their hands with Magic!’s tune ‘Rude’ – up from a No.77 debut to No.28 – and it’s currently squidged in the iTunes top ten.
Jason Derulo’s ‘Marry Me’ now has a platinum ring to it, but it’s down ten spots to No.29, Lily Allen’s back in Aussie chart favour with ‘Hard Out Here’ (No.33 on debut), Zedd’s ‘Stay The Night’ is now gold, and debuts from The John Butler Trio (‘Only One’ at No.44) and Timomatic (‘Everything Is Allowed’ at No.48).
Beyond the boundaries of the 50, there’s a re-entry for INXS and their classic ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ (No.54) and it seems the kids are tiring of Justin Bieber releasing a new track each week, with his latest ‘PYD’ reaching only No.56 on debut. The Vamps’ ‘Can We Dance’ improves from No.90 on debut to No.58.
Post their win on ‘Australia’s Got Talent’, Uncle Jed’s tracks have all dropped dramatically; ‘Brother’ is down from No.36 to No.67, while further down ‘Give Me Love’ drops from No.42 to No.79 and ‘Just Give Me A Reason’ is gone from the top 100 after debuting at No.49 last week.
New Politics debuts at No.69 with ‘Harlem’, Rudimental’s in at No.71 (with a little help from Emeli Sandé and Nas and their song ‘Free’) and Tinie Tempah and John Martin kick their ‘Children Of The Sun’ campaign off in the No.74 position.
Dami Im’s cover of ‘Purple Rain’ pokes its head back into the charts at No.77, ‘The Voice’ winner Harrison Craig sees his charity single ‘Lift Your Spirit’ premiere at No.84 and The Wombats’ ‘Your Body Is A Weapon’ is in at No.86.
Dropping this week are Third D3gree’s ‘Different Kind Of Love’ (No.55 to No.89) and Bombs Away’s ‘Better Luck Next Time’ (that they didn’t see the irony in the title… No.54 to No.91 and Eminem’s ‘Rap God’ (No.74 to No.92).
Akon’s ‘So Blue’ is new at No.94. J.Bieb’s ‘All Bad’ and Britney’s ‘Perfume’ are gone from the top 100.

ALBUMS
Eminem was doing something very right in the top spot on the ARIA albums chart with his new LP ‘The Marshall Mathers LP2’. Just three weeks in, the album’s already hit gold accreditation (35,000 copies), but it has been overtaken by two other albums this week.
The first (and consequently at No.1 on debut) is Dami Im’s self-titled debut set. It roars into the countdown in the top spot this week, aided with a very healthy gold sales accreditation on debut. Katy Perry’s ‘Prism’ is still firing, however, moving up from No.3 to No.2 this week, ahead of Eminem and a trio of top ten debuts.
In at No.4 is Little Mix’ new album ‘Salute’. In at No.5 is the new Robbie Williams album ‘Swings Both Ways’ and in at No.6 is the new Nickelback best-of ‘The Best Of Nickelback Volume 1’ (should we see the “volume 1” as a threat?).
Lorde’s still selling well, clearly. Her ‘Pure Heroine’ has been rolling around the ARIA albums chart for the past eight weeks and it’s now platinum accredited. Gaga’s ‘Artpop’ (which many are calling ‘Artflop’) is down from No.2 to No.8 and the Human Nature Christmas album goes gold after two weeks (Sony’s managed to ship 35,000 copies into stores).
Speaking of ‘Christmas’, Michael Bublé’s version of it jumps from No.19 to No.13; Illy’s ‘Cinematic’, however, is down from No.4 to No.14 and the Neil Finn/Paul Kelly collaboration ‘Goin’ Your Way’ is down from No.5 to No.16. Celine’s ‘Loved Me Back To Life’ also suffers the second week sales blues, dropping from No.9 to No.21.
Bruno Mars’ ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’ picks up thanks to the repackage (No.43 to No.23), Birdy’s ‘Fire Within’ improves thanks to a promo visit (No.65 to No.25) and John Legend… well he’s just a talent. His album ‘Love In The Future’ back up from the precipice (No.98 to No.29).
Spiderbait scores their first top 50 albums chart success in eight years, with their self-titled set premiering at No.30. There are debuts lower in the 30s from ‘The Hunger Games : Catching Fire’ soundtrack (No.37) and Jake Bugg’s ‘Shangri La’ (No.38), but James Arthur’s self-titled LP slumps in its second week, from No.14 on debut to No.46.
Outside the top 50, Jason Derulo’s ‘Tattoos’ sinks from No.15 to No.60, Avril Lavigne’s self-titled set drops from No.36 to No.67, but Cliff Richard debuts at No.69 with ‘The Fabulous Rock ‘N’ Roll Songbook’.
The deluxe edition of the Neil Finn/Paul Kelly collaboration ‘Goin’ Your Way’ premieres at No.75, but big drops for Havana Brown’s ‘Flashing Lights’ (No.49 to No.82), Adam Brand’s ‘My Acoustic Diary’ (No.31 to No.89) and Hillsong Young & Free’s ‘We Are Young & Free’ (No.55 to No.98).
Albums out of the top 100 this week (with last week’s figure in brackets) include Beyonce’s ‘4’ (No.42), The Wanted’s ‘Word Of Mouth’ (No.64 on debut), Linkin Park’s ‘Recharged’ (No.71), Kerser’s ‘S.C.O.T’ (No.72) and Uncle Jed’s ‘Uncle Jed’ (No.74).

For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the new-look ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE, now each and every Saturday from 7:00pm AEST.