• Aussie pop superstar Troye Sivan continues to kick goals, with his first ever Australian headline shows – in Sydney and Perth next month – selling out within two minutes of going on sale. His shows in London, Paris, Berlin and Stockholm sold out immediately and, ahead of the release of his debut album ‘Blue Neighbourhood’ in early December, his label EMI has confirmed that Troye’s recent single ‘Wild’ has been certified gold, for sales in excess of 35,000 copies.
• South African indie popper St Lucia has dropped his new single ‘Dancing On Glass’. According to frontman Jean-Philip Grobler, the song is about “that inescapable pull within each human being towards things that are dangerous or ‘bad for us’”. According to Sony, it’s the first chapter in the story of the new St Lucia album, details of which are expected soon.
• Major labels are now looking towards Fridays to get their new music heard on radio ahead of the weekend, with a number of big name releases making their way to media yesterday. They include Adele’s ‘Hello’, Elton John’s new single ‘Looking Up’, the new Justin Bieber single ‘Sorry’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Used To Love You’. Our FACEBOOK page brings you the newbies every Thursday.
• As you’re probably aware by now, Rudimental will be on our shores from late next month for headline shows in Sydney, Melbourne (both sold out), Brisbane and Perth. Now the boys have confirmed some “official after parties”, playing DJ sets in all four cities. Brisbane’s is at Eatons Hill Hotel on Friday November 28, Perth’s is at Ambar Nightclub on December 01, Melbourne’s is at Seven on Saturday December 05 and Sydney’s takes over Marquee on Thursday December 10. Tickets are on sale now.
• New South Wales’ Mountain Sounds Festival, set to take over the picturesque Mount Penang Parklands in Kariong, has confirmed the first collection of top shelf talent who’ll be entertaining ticketholders on February 20. Among the acts are Alpine, Set Mo, Art Vs Science, I Know Leopard, Holy Holy, Nina Las Vegas, World Champion and, from the US, Albert Hammond Jr. Early bird tickets have already sold out, with first release now on sale.
• US rapper Pusha T has confirmed a duo of headline shows in early January. He’s set to perform for audiences in both Melbourne (Prince Bandroom on January 06) and Brisbane (The Met on January 07), no doubt treating them to music from his forthcoming album ‘King Push’, which is due for release “this summer”. Tickets for both shows are on sale from 2pm on Friday October 30.
Clearly there’s no slowing down Simply Red, with the legendary outfit, fronted by charismatic ginge Mick Hucknall, confirming they’ve added a second Melbourne show to their forthcoming run of Aussie tour dates. They’re now at the city’s Palais Theatre for two consecutive nights – on February 16 (original show) and 17 (new show). Tickets are on sale from 10am on Monday November 02.
• Josh Pyke will tour Australia throughout most of February. The run of dates commences with his appearance at the recently-announced Twilights series at Taronga Zoo on January 29 before making stops in Canberra, the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Lismore, Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide and, finally, at Perth’s Astor Theatre on February 20. Tickets are on sale from 9am this Thurday.
• Canadian outfit A Tribe Called Red will tour the east coast of Australia next month. Their run of shows kicks off at Canberra’s Polish White Eagle Club on Thursday November 19, before zipping through Wollongong, Sydney, Melbourne, Bellingen, Lismore, Newcastle, Sydney (again), Brisbane and finally Maroochydore. Tickets for all shows are on sale now.
• One Direction’s new single may be ‘Perfect’, but it would appear it’s not perfect enough to win over the British record-buying public, who’ve decided the track is the second most popular in the nation this week; the 1D boys having to settle for a No.2 debut, behind KDA, Tinie Tempah and Katy B’s collaboration ‘Turn The Music Louder (Rumble)’, which claims the top spot on debut. The Weeknd’s ‘The Hills’ climbs to No.3, while Justin Bieber’s ‘What Do You Mean?’ slides from No.1 to No.5. Sleepy Tom and Diplo’s track ‘Be Right There’ takes quite the leap, up from No.91 to No.8. The new Take That single ‘Hey Boy’ premieres at a lowly No.56.
• This week’s UK albums chart belongs to British singer songwriter Jamie Lawson, whose self-titled fourth album debuts in the No.1 position; his first UK chart placing ever. Ed Sheeran’s ‘X’ is right behind him, however, with John Newman’s ‘Revolve’ debuting at No.3. There are four more new entries in this week’s UK top ten; Peter Andre (yes that Peter Andre) debuts at No.5 with ‘Come Fly With Me’, Demi Lovato is ‘Confident’ at No.6, Nothing But Thieves’ self-titled LP is new at No.7 and the new Jean Michel Jarre album ‘Electronica 1 : The Time Machine’ premieres in the No.8 spot. The new Faithless album falls from its No.1 debut last week to No.11.
• Another week and another result the same as the last… we’ve lost count. Once again it’s The Weeknd crowing from the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in the US with ‘The Hills’ and once again he’s holding off Drake and La Bieb. Shawn Mendes ‘Stitches’ up a No.5 position, while Taylor Swift’s ‘Wildest Dreams’ also improves – from No.9 to No.6. One of the biggest moves of the week, however, comes courtesy of former Disney starlet Selena Gomez, whose ‘Same Old Love’ rises from No.38 to No.18. It’s not her only chart success this week.
• The US Billboard 200 Albums chart also belongs to Selena Gomez; her album ‘Revival’ certainly living up to its name, premiering in the No.1 spot Stateside. The Game is in at No.2 with ‘The Documentary 2’, followed by albums from The Weeknd, Fetty Wap and Drake & Future (Nos.3, 4 and 5). Janet Jackson’s ‘Unbreakable’ slides from its No.1 debut to No.8 and Jana Kramer debuts 21 places higher than the title of her new album ‘Thirty One’. R City, who we recently interviewed on the site, see their album ‘What Dreams Are Made Of’ debut at No.25.
• And that’s your lot for your Saturday edition of The Purge and, indeed, for your charts from the rest of the world. We’ll be looking inwards tonight, however, with our weekly Chart Watch. It’s a full wrap of what’s been happening on the Aussie top 100s. It’s live at 6pm AEDT.
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY OCTOBER 26 : City And Colour (Nationally)
MONDAY OCTOBER 26 : Joanna Newsom (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 29 : A$AP Rocky (Nationally)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 29 : Josh Pyke (Nationally)
FRIDAY OCTOBER 30 : Pusha T (Melbourne, Brisbane)
Australia's first stop for pop!