New number ones on both singles and albums chart? Yep. Top ten debuts on both charts? Uh-huh. A number of new accreditations to look at? You bet. The first ARIA chart to incorporate streaming figures? Correct. Stop pissing around and dive straight into the juicy bits? Right then. Our regular weekly Chart Watch? Starts now.
SINGLES
Yes Australia, you have a new number one single. Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ has been knocked into the No.2 position this week by Ms Taylor Swift, whose new tune ‘Blank Space’ and its clip in which the star goes three kinds of crazy, has moved into the top spot in its fourth week of Aussie chart love.
The star-studded Band Aid 30 version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ does well to debut in the No.3 spot, given it only had a few days of sales in which to do it. In the UK, however, it’s expected to benefit from a full week of sales and premiere in the top spot there on Monday.
Also new in the top ten this week is our No.4 single ‘Ah Yeah So What’ by Will Sparks, with some help from Wiley and our own Elen Levon (finally she gets some top ten chart love!).
Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s ‘Outside’ improves one position and picks up a new gold certification for sales of more than 35,000 copies, ahead of One Direction’s ‘Steal My Girl’ which cracks the top ten just as their new single ‘Night Changes’ starts to make its presence felt.
The new Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars collaboration almost brings the funk to the top ten, but ‘Uptown Funk’ has to settle for a No.11 debut instead. Corks will be popping in Marlisa’s house this week (* non-alcoholic, obviously) as ‘The X Factor’ starlet’s debut single ‘Stand By You’ hits the platinum mark. It is, however, down seven places to No.13.
Parra For Cuva’s ‘Wicked Games’ bolts from No.26 to No.14, Peking Duk and Safia’s ‘Take Me Over’ regains lost ground (No.22 to No.17) and Nico & Vinz’ single ‘In Your Arms’ picks up a gold certification at No.21.
Despite being the most played song in the country last week (according to The Music Network), Alesso & Tove Lo’s song ‘Heroes (We Could Be)’ tumbles from No.13 to No.26. Avicii’s ‘These Days’ also drops, though not by quite the same number (No.18 to No.27).
Sam Smith gets another dose of Aussie chart love with the infectious ‘Like I Can’, which is new into the countdown at No.28, just one position ahead of previous single ‘I’m Not The Only One’.
Ariana Grande’s new track ‘Love Me Harder’ jumps from No.46 to No.33, 5 Seconds Of Summer (who earlier this afternoon Aussie time revealed a new live album release) see their tune ‘Good Girls’ bullet back into the top 50 (No.81 to No.34) and a little more top 50 chart love for Lorde, with her single ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ improving from No.52 to No.38, just five shy of its No.33 peak.
Iggy Azalea’s ‘Beg For It’ drops from No.29 to No.42. Redfoo’s ‘New Thang’ is down from No.28 to No.43. Nathaniel’s ‘Live Louder’ slides from No.31 to No.44. James Blunt’s ‘When I Find Love Again’ drops from No.27 to No.48.
But the 1D boys find themselves in the No.49 spot on debut with ‘Night Changes’ ahead of a 16 place fall for Olly Murs’ new single ‘Wrapped Up’ (No.34 to No.50).
Beyond the 50, Pharrell Williams will be most ‘Happy’ with himself, given that his global smash has just smashed through the 630,000 copy mark (nine times platinum to you and me). Sia will no doubt also be happy. After Montaigne’s cover of ‘Chandelier’ on Triple J, the single jumps 15 places to No.52 and picks up a fourth platinum accreditation.
5 Seconds Of Summer are ‘Just Saying’, new at No.54. The controversial dirge that is ‘Literally I Can’t’ (Play-N-Skillz, Redfoo, Lil Jon & Enertia McFly) premieres at No.60 and Paloma Faith’s ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ plunges 20 spots to No.61.
Even Timmy Trumpet’s ‘Nightmare’ drops 19, but Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’ improves from No.96 to No.66. Selena Gomez’ ‘The Heart Wants What It Wants’ must want some ’69’ action, after plummeting 36 places from last week’s No.33 debut.
New music from Nicki Minaj (‘Bed Of Lies’) at No.71, a big drop for Dean Ray’s ‘Coming Back’ (No.42 to No.74) and Carmada’s ‘Maybe’ (No.55 to No.78). Watermat’s ‘Bullit’ is off 20 (No.60 to No.80) and Itch’s ‘Another Man’ is down 25 (No.57 to No.82). Eminem’s collaboration ‘Detroit vs Everybody’ is the last of the top 100 premieres at No.86.
Pitbull & John Ryan’s ‘Fireball’ drops 22, Gwen Stefani’s ‘Baby Don’t Lie’ is down 40, Hilary Duff’s ‘All About You’ loses 33 spots and Nicki Minaj’s ‘Only’ tumbles 38 from No.62 to No.100.
ALBUMS
Just like this week’s singles chart, there’s a new No.1 on the albums chart, though in this case, it’s a debut. And that debut comes from a certain boyband who recently released their fourth studio album. Naturally, it’s One Direction and their new album ‘Four’ which, despite having a few less days on sale, had done enough in-store, online and on pre-orders to debut in the No.1 position on this week’s ARIA albums chart. It’s the band’s fourth No.1 Aussie album on the trot and it debuts with a respectable gold sales certification alongside it.
The new Nickelback album ‘No Fixed Address’ was no slouch either, entering the countdown at No.3, with Ms Taylor Swift sandwiched in between in the fourth week of local chart love for ‘1989’.
Though Foo Fighters might have dropped from the No.1 debut of last week to No.4, however, they may just take comfort from the fact that the album has popped over into the platinum sales territory this week; not bad for just two weeks in.
Ed Sheeran’s at No.5, Pink Floyd is at No.6 with (the now gold certified) ‘The Endless River’. With her Aussie tour in full swing, Katy Perry’s ‘Prism’ jumps into the top ten (No.11 to No.8) ahead of Kerser’s ‘King’ with right royally puts its seal on the No.9 position.
Just outside the top ten is a battle of ‘Man Against Machine’ for country superstar Garth Brooks; his album premiering in the No.11 spot.
As mentioned on the site earlier in the week, Hilltop Hoods have blasted through the platinum mark with ‘Walking Under Stars’ (No.12) and it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas again when Michael Bublé’s collection of festive favourites ‘Christmas’ re-enters the chart. The ten-times-platinum-selling collection rears its bells in the No.14 position.
The Ghost Inside’s ‘Dear Youth’ lets fly in the No.16 position in its first week and Cold Chisel’s ‘The Live Tapes Vol.2’ debuts at No.19. Melinda Scheider and Beccy Cole’s ‘Great Women Of Country’ collection, however, tumbles 12 places from last week’s No.9 debut.
More debuts too… ‘The Art Of McCartney’ at No.22, Brooke Fraser’s ‘Brutal Romantic’ at No.23, the sixth edition of the ‘Punk Goes Pop’ compilations at No.26.
But Flight Facilities’ album ‘Down To Earth’ loses some ground (No.16 to No.28). Chet Faker picks up 16 ahead of the ARIAs (No.46 to No.30), but Slipknot falls (No.18 to No.31).
The ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy : Awesome Mix Vol.1’ re-enters the top 50 at No.33 (up from No.51 last week), with debuts following from Queen (‘Queen Forever’ at No.35) and a soundtrack (‘The Hunger Games : Mockingjay Pt.1’ at No.36).
Vance Joy enjoys a bit more top 50 chart love with ‘Dream Your Life Away’ (No.59 to No.39) and there’s a top 50 planting for TV On The Radio’s ‘Seeds’ (No.42).
But Machine Head’s ‘Diamonds’ lose their lustre in the second week of chart love (No.10 on debut to No.43).
U2’s ploy of forcing their new music upon every one of the world’s iCloud-enabled iPhone users seems to have backfired. Their album ‘Songs Of Innocence’ has dropped out of the top 100 entirely after just seven weeks and their ‘+’ release (some extra new choons for the fans), can only manage No.44 on debut.
Paloma Faith’s ‘A Perfect Contradiction’ falls from No.27 to No.47, while Knife Party’s ‘Abandon Ship’ looks like abandoning the top 50; No.20 on debut last week and No.48 this week. The Script’s ‘No Sound Without Silence’ is also lower, down 18 to No.50.
Beyond the 50, Karise Eden’s ‘Things I’ve Done’ is down 21 to No.54, Susan Boyle’s ‘Hope’ is gone (No.31 to No.57) and Ed Sheeran’s ‘+’ tumbles 36 places to No.62.
A little love for the ‘We Love Disney’ compile (debuting at No.69), but a 31 place fall for Annie Lennox’ ‘Nostalgia’ (No.71) and 21 place drop for Dami Im’s ‘Heart Beats’ (No.52 to No.73).
Coldplay’s ‘Ghost Stories’ is one of the big losers of the chart week, however; it’s down from No.19 to No.77. Bob Dylan’s ‘The Basement Tapes Raw : Vol.11’ doesn’t fare much better, however, dropping 54 places to No.83. The soundtrack to ‘Interstellar’ makes a top 100 chart splash at No.82 and In The Moment’s ‘Black Widow’ puts its bite on the No.89 position on debut.
The chart love for Röyksopp, Damien Rice Ne Obliciscaris, Echosmith, Matthew Garwood and Azealia Banks, however, was short lived. Each artist saw their respective new albums debut in the top 50 last week (as high as No.23 in the case of Röyksopp and No.25 for Damien Rice), but all six titles have tumbled out of the top 100 entirely in just their second week.
For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE, now every Saturday from 6:00pm AEDT.
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