CHART WATCH

All’s steady on top of this week’s ARIA singles chart, but how long can Taylor Swift keep the crown? Over on the albums chart, history repeating, with another three new entries in the top five, including a new No.1! Seth Sentry, Of Monsters And Men or Muse? Who pipped the others at the post? Find out in this week’s Chart Watch.

SINGLES
Despite losing the No.1 position Stateside to Wiz Khalifa, Taylor Swift is still flavour of the month here in Australia, with her latest single ‘Bad Blood’ spending a third successive week in the top spot on the ARIA singles chart.
But Aussie singer Conrad Sewell is on the march. The Brisbane native’s new single ‘Start Again’, which is being used in a sync campaign for Channel 7’s ‘Home And Away’, is flying. It’s already overtaken Taylor on the iTunes singles chart and moves up from No.6 to No.2 on this week’s official countdown, swapping places with Jessie J’s ‘Flashlight’.
British girl group Little Mix are on the verge of a top ten berth with ‘Black Magic’. The girls haven’t had a top ten hit in Australia since ‘Change Your Life’, bypassing the top 20 entirely with the singles from their more mature last LP ‘Salute’. ‘Black Magic’ shuffles from No.25 to No.11 on this week’s countdown.
James Bay’s ‘Let It Go’ drops from No.8 to No.14, the new Major Lazer track ‘Powerful’ makes its chart intentions clear, bulleting from a No.42 debut to No.15, but Meghan Trainor’s new single ‘Like I’m Gonna Lose You’ impresses even more, rocketing from a No.80 debut to No.19.
Rachel Platten’s ‘Fight Song’ seems to have given up the fight (No.12 to No.21), the new DJ Snake/AlunaGeorge single ‘You Know You Like It’ is up from No.41 to No.29 and Guy Sebastian’s ‘Tonight Again’ loses another 13 places post-Eurovision (No.18 to No.31).
A few tracks poke their head into the top 50 for the first time; Jason Derulo’s ‘Cheyenne’ (No.52 to No.44), The Weeknd’s ‘The Hills’ (No.88 to No.47) and Armin Van Buuren’s ‘Another You’ (No.53 to No.48).
Florence & The Machine’s ‘Ship To Wreck’ jumps from No.73 to No.52, but doesn’t do quite enough to crack back into the top 50 and match its previous peak of No.48. Flo & Co are back at No.56 with a re-entry for ‘What Kind Of Man’.
Fifth Harmony edge a little higher with ‘Worth It’ (No.64 to No.54), Rita Ora’s ‘Poison’ stars seeping into the countdown (No.82 to No.56), Robin Schulz’ ‘Headlights’ are guiding the way up the chart hill (No.87 to No.59) and the new Silento tune ‘Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)’ premieres at No.63 – the week’s highest chart debut.
There’s a debut for Golden Features’ ‘No One’ at No.66, a mammoth drop for Anja Nissen’s cover of ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’ (No.30 to No.67) and another for Tori Kelly’s ‘Nobody Love’ which… not many people loved (No.50 to No.75)
More new entries; MKTO’s ‘Bad Girls’ at No.80 and Eminem’s ‘Phenomenal’ at No.81.
More drops; The Barden Belles’ ‘World Championship Finale 2’ (No.60 to No.82), Pia Mia ftg. Chris Brown & Tyga’s ‘Do It Again’ (No.58 to No.83) and Andie Case’s ‘Want To Want Me/I Want You To Want Me’ mashup (No.63 to No.90).
Karise Eden’s cover of The Shirelles’ ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ is new at No.93 and Parkway Drive’s ‘Vice Grip’ debuts at No.95.
A huge plunge for Tinashe’s ‘All Hands On Deck (remix). It was sitting pretty at No.45 last week, but is down a mammoth 53 places to No.98. Mans Zelmerlow’s Eurovision-winning song ‘Heroes’ also tumbles (No.61 to No.99), but spare a thought for Dami Im. All she wanted to do was to make the world ‘Smile’, but all she got was one week in the chart at No.48. ‘Smile’ has now disappeared from the top 100 entirely.

ALBUMS
So who triumphed? Seth Sentry? Muse? Of Monsters And Men? Well it was Muse who took this week’s ARIA chart crown, premiering at No.1 on the ARIA albums chart with their latest long player ‘Drones’. It’s the band’s third No.1 down under, matching the success of 2006’s ‘Black Holes And Revelations’ and 2009’s ‘The Resistance’.
But Seth Sentry’s No.2 chart debut is certainly nothing to be sniffed at. ‘Strange New Past’ easily eclipses the chart peak of his previous album ‘This Was Tomorrow’.
And Of Monsters And Men make it three top five debuts, premiering at No.4 with ‘Beneath The Skin’, right behind Florence & The Machine’s latest, which debuted in the top spot last week.
The ‘Furious 7’ soundtrack is back in favour, up from No.26 to No.13, Hillsong United’s ‘Empires’ is down from No.6 to No.14, Jamie XX’s ‘In Colour’ drops from a No.2 debut to No.16 and A$AP Rocky’s ‘A.L.L.A (At Long Last A$AP)’ is down from No.7 to No.17.
Danie Johns’ debut solo offering ‘Talk’ loses 12 places, The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sticky Fingers’ is back in the countdown at No.24 thanks to a deluxe repackage and Jason Derulo loses his chart footing; ‘Everything Is 4’ tumbling from a No.12 debut to No.25.
Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard claim the No.31 spot on debut with ‘Django And Jimmie’, Alison Wonderland’s ‘Run’ improves from No.45 to No.33 and there’s a No.37 debut for Tremonti’s ‘Cauterize’.
Another debut at No.42 (Leftfield’s ‘Alternative Light Source’), a re-entry at No.45 (Notorious B.I.G’s ‘Greatest Hits’), a 17 place drop for Jebediah’s best-of ‘Twenty’ (No.32 to No.49) and a re-entry for Nirvana’s classic ‘Nevermind’ (No.51).
There’s obviously been some discounting happening at retail, with a number of classic LPs climbing or re-entering the latter half of the hundred; The double platinum ‘The Sapphires’ soundtrack is back (No.56) and the Foo Fighters best of is up from No.93 to No.57.
New entries follow from Normie Rowe (‘Frenzy!’ at No.58), The Wiggles (‘The Wiggles Meet The Orchestra’ at No.62) Galantis (‘Pharmacy’ at No.66) and the ‘Entourage’ soundtrack (No.73).
Mimi’s ‘#1 to Infinity’ looks like it’ll be headed to the latter a lot sooner than it’ll be headed to the former, dropping from No.44 to No.77 in its third week of chart action.
Daniel O’Donnell fills the No.82 spot with ‘Hope & Praise’ and FFS’s debut self-titled set debuts at No.85.
We suspect that a No.60 to No.87 drop in its fourth week wasn’t quite ‘The Desired Effect’ Brandon Flowers was after in a new solo album. Ditto Make Them Suffer with their album ‘Old Souls’, which plummets from No.30 on debut to No.95.
Four Year Strong’s self-titled release wraps the debuts at the even No.100.
Last week’s top 50 new entries from Paulini, Jetty Road and Mark Seymour & The Undertow are all gone from the top 100.

For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE every Saturday from 6:00pm AEST.

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