CHART WATCH

The big news this week is that Lady Gaga has failed to debut at No.1 on the albums chart with her new album ‘Artpop’. There’s a new No.1 over on the singles chart too – and the latter’s where we begin our look at this week’s ARIA top 100s in this week’s Chart Watch.

SINGLES
There’s been plenty of chopping and changing atop the ARIA singles charts over the past few weeks after the ‘X Factor’ grand final. It was Katy Perry, then Dami, then Taylor and now… Eminem and Rihanna. The duo’s global smash ‘The Monster’ finally makes it to the top spot this week, smashing through the gold sales accreditation phase and edging out Taylor Henderson in the process.
Taylor stood no chance against the might of the rap god and his collaborator, but he also lost ground to Katy Perry, who picked up one spot to resurge to No.2.
Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’, Pitbull & Ke$ha’s ‘Timber’ and Justice Crew’s ‘Everybody’ picked up three places apiece, but although Dami Im dropped three spots with ‘Alive’, Sony will be more than happy that the single has hit platinum after just three weeks in.
Lana Del Rey is ‘Young And Beautiful’ and newly double platinum at a new peak of No.8 and Ed Sheeran scores the highest debut of the week (No.10) with ‘I See Fire’ from the ‘Hobbit’ soundtrack.
Guy Sebastian’s single ‘Like A Drum’ beats with a slightly more golden heart this week after bagging more than 35,000 sales in three weeks, Bastille’s Snap/Corona mashup ‘Of The Night’ premieres at No.13 and Havana Brown’s ‘Warrior’ is now also gold, up one spot to No.14.
More accreditation updates this week comes courtesy of OneRepublic and their latest single ‘Something I Need’ (now double platinum), James Blunt’s ‘Bonfire Heart’ (platinum) and Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’ (triple platinum at No.18). Jason Derulo’s ‘Marry Me’ hits gold.
The new Flo Rida single ‘How I Feel’ is up six to No.20, Little Mix’ ‘Move’ hits a new peak of No.26 (also up six) and after captivating Aussie audiences via its appearance on the explosive ‘Home & Away’ campaign, Tina Arena’s album track ‘Only Lonely’ debuts at No.32.
Sydney outfit Uncle Jed picked up a cool quarter of a million dollars as the winners of ‘Australia’s Got Talent’ last weekend and the Australian public responded by sending their cover of Matt Corby’s ‘Brother’ soaring back into the top 50 to No.36 (up from No.58), just ahead of John Legend’s ‘All Of Me’, which bounded into the top ten on iTunes later in the chart week.
The news isn’t so good for Jai Waetford this week, however. The third place-getter in this year’s ‘The X Factor’ debuted strongly at No.6 with his single ‘Your Eyes’ last week, before faltering quickly to be placed 35 spots lower this week (No.41). Lower still is Third D3gree’s ‘Different Kind Of Love’ (No.22 to No.55).
Joel Fletcher’s ‘Swing’ drops at No.45, Afrojack’s ‘The Spark’ edges into the top 50 at No.48 (from No.57 last week) and Uncle Jed’s cover of P!nk’s ‘Just Give Me A Reason’ debuts at No.49.
Outside the top 50, Gaga’s ‘Applause’ is up 13 spots to No.52, Eminem ftg. Sia’s ‘Beautiful Pain’ jumps from No.91 to No.59 and debuts at Nos.60 and 61 respectively for Justin Bieber’s ‘All Bad’ and Britney Spears’ ‘Perfume’.
There’s a big 32 place drop for Eminem’s ‘Survival’ (No.35 to No.67), a debut at No.68 for Bonnie Anderson’s ‘Raise The Bar’ and another for Olly Murs’ ‘Hand On Heart’ at No.73. Eminem’s ‘Rap God’ plunges 37 places to No.74.
More premieres this week courtesy of Flume (‘The Greatest View’ at No.75), Magic (‘Rude’ at No.77) and Icona Pop (‘All Night’ at No.84), along with The Vamps (‘Can We Dance’ at No.90) and Mariah Carey (‘The Art Of Letting Go’ at No.97).
Gaga’s ‘Dope’, Justin Bieber’s ‘Bad Day’ and Gaga’s ‘Venus’ are all now gone entirely from the top 100.

ALBUMS
The big news this week obviously, is Lady Gaga’s failure to launch in the top spot on the ARIA albums chart, held at bay by the power of Eminem and his ‘Marshall Mathers LP2’. All the hype, her social media power, the flying dress and the taste-testing of different songs from the album ahead of its release couldn’t quite help ‘Artpop’ over the line against Eminem; Gaga having to settle for a No.2 debut.
Perry’s ‘Prism’ is in at No.3, with debuts at Nos.4 and 5 from Illy and Paul Kelly/Neil Finn respectively.
The repackage of Flume’s self-titled debut does the trick rather nicely… it bullets from No.62 to No.7 this week, augering well for a strong showing at the upcoming ARIA Awards. James Blunt’s ‘Moon Landing’ goes gold and Celine Dion joins the top ten party, with her new set ‘Loved Me Back To Life’ achieving a No.9 debut.
Proving we still love them even though they’ve been based in Vegas for the past few years is Aussie manband Human Nature. Their festive set ‘The Christmas Album’ kicks off the silly season in style with a No.12 debut ahead of another premiere, this time for James Arthur’s self-titled debut at No.14.
Derulo’s ‘Tattoos’ edges up 13, Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ slides 14 and Michael Bublé’s repackaged ‘Christmas’ re-enters the top 100 at No.19.
A bullet for Susan Boyle’s festive set ‘Home For Christmas’ too. After a worrying No.45 debut last week, it’s up to No.22 this week.
J Mauboy’s ‘Beautiful’ drops from 11 to 25 despite the tour kicking off, Miley Cyrus now has gold ‘Bangerz’ at No.26, Arctic Monkeys’ ‘AM’ is down from No.15 to No.27 and Pearl Jam’s ‘Lightning Bolt’ drops from No.12 to No.29.
A trio of new entries in this section; No.28 for The Beatles’ ‘On Air : Live At The BBC Volume 2′, No.30 for The Killers’ ‘Direct Hits’ and No.31 for Adam Brand’s ‘My Acoustic Diary’.
Avril Lavigne’s self-titled set loses 29 spots on last week’s No.7 debut, but Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey’s ‘The Great Country Songbook’ picks up 63 places to No.37 and The Seekers’ ‘Golden Jubilee Album’ re-enters the top 100 at No.39.
New at No.40 is Il Divo’s ‘A Musical Affair’; down down are Beyoncé’s ‘4’ (No.14 to No.42) and Havana Brown’s ‘Flashing Lights’ (No.31 to No.49).
Mister Callea will be getting into the eggnog this week after his ‘This Is Christmas’ set premiered at No.60, followed by a re-entry for Olly Murs’ ‘Right Place Right Time’ (repackaged later this month) and a lowly debut for The Wanted’s new album ‘Word Of Mouth’ (No.64).
Linkin Park’s ‘Recharged’ slumps from No.25 to No.71 in week three; Kerser’s ‘S.C.O.T.’ from No.32 to No.72.
The Beatles’ ‘On Air : Live At The BBC’ enters at No.77 and The Bamboos’ ‘Fever In The Road’ at No.80.
Further big drops come from Toby Keith (‘Drinks After Work’ from No.41 to No.84), Cut Copy (‘Free Your Mind’ from No.19 to No.90… ouch), Beyoncé (‘I Am… Sasha Fierce’ from No.48 to No.94 and Fall Out Boy (‘Save Rock And Roll’ from No.58 to No.97).
Last week’s new entries from Tinie Tempah, Gossling and Damien Leith (Nos.22, 37 and 57 respectively) are all gone from this week’s top 100.

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.