It’s happened again! For the second week in succession, we have new number ones on both the singles and albums chart. But who’s triumphed on the latter. Could it be home-grown golden girl Sia? Or might Rihanna have bagged her first ever No.1 Aussie album? So many questions.
We have the answers – and so much more – in this week’s Chart Watch.
SINGLES
Former One Direction star Zayn Malik (now Malik-less) will be thrilled to see his debut solo effort ‘Pillowtalk’ doing so well across the world, following up his No.1 debut in the UK overnight with a No.1 single here in Australia too.
The track rules the roost down under this week, knocking Jonas Blue’s ‘Fast Car’ out of the proverbial ballpark (it’s down from No.1 to No.5!)
Flume holds at No.2, Charlie Puth improves to No.3 and Justin Bieber notches a fresh triple platinum certification for ‘Love Yourself’, despite dropping one spot from three to four.
Also gold this week (though not in certification terms… yet) is starlet Kiiara’s breakout smash. ‘Gold’ improves ten places from 16 to No.6.
Snakehips’ ‘All My Friends’ gets a major accreditation tweak, going from gold last week (35,000 copies) to double platinum this week (140,000 copies), while Zara Larsson’s ‘Lush Life’ (No.8) and The Rubens’ ‘Hoops’ (No.9) both hit platinum.
The week’s second highest debut comes courtesy of Barbadian supersongstress Rihanna, whose surprise new track ‘Work’ debuts at No.10, followed swiftly behind by a big bullet for Twenty One Pilots’ ‘Stressed Out’, which is up from No.29 to No.11.
Elle King’s ‘Ex’s & Oh’s’ is another picking up a platinum certification this week, despite dropping from No.7 to No.13.
Shawn Mendes ‘Stitches’ up a double platinum accreditation (No.15), LDRU’s ‘Keeping Score’ goes gold at No.16 and Flo Rida’s ‘My House’ edges into the top 20 (No.27 to No.20).
Flume’s having a great run with his tracks at the moment. In addition to his single ‘Never Be Like You’ flying high at No.2, his latest track ‘Smoke & Retribution’ premieres at No.23, two places ahead of Drake’s newbie ‘Summer Sixteen’ (No.25 on debut).
ZHU’s ‘Working For It’ bullets (No.50 to No.30), but Marcus Marr and Chet Faker’s ‘The Trouble With Us’ sinks from No.19 to No.31 after last week’s bump due to Triple J’s Hottest 100.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis suffer a similar fall with ‘Downtown’ (No.20 to No.32), while Mashd N Kutcher’s ‘My Sunshine’ is down 13 to No.34.
Could it be the Zayn halo effect? Could it be the impact of the video? Either way, One Direction’s ‘History’ improves a huge 22 places this week to No.35.
That 99 Souls track that samples Brandy & Monica’s ‘The Boy Is Mine’ and Destiny’s Child’s ‘Girl’ nabs a gold certification this week (No.39), but former top 20 hit ‘Flip It’ from Charlotte Devaney ftg. Snoop Dogg is down 17 to No.47.
The accreditation updates keep coming, with Sigala’s ‘Sweet Lovin’ (now gold at No.49) and Lost Frequencies’ ‘Reality’ (now also gold at No.51). Conrad Sewell’s ‘Remind Me’ finally finds itself a top 100 berth, after a couple of months being used in ‘Home & Away’ promos – heck it worked for ‘Start Again’ – premiering at No.55.
Ellie Goulding’s new single ‘Something In The Way You Move’ re-enters the countdown for its second week of Aussie chart love at No.60 (a new peak), while Kid Ink’s ‘Promise’ is up from No.78 to No.61.
Calvin Harris and Disciples’ ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ hits triple platinum at No.69, Tiesto’s ‘The Right Song’ is new at No.78, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ hits a new milestone (now seven times platinum – 490,000 copies) at No.79 and Taylor Swift’s ‘Out Of The Woods’ is out of the hunt for a top 50 berth again… dropping from No.52 to No.81.
Nelly & Jeremih’s ‘The Fix’ hits double platinum (No.87), Rüfüs’ ‘Like An Animal’ eases 22 places, Coldplay’s ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ enters at No.95 and Guy Sebastian’s ‘Black & Blue’ drops 28 spots to find itself right on the precipice of chart history (No.72 to No.100).
ALBUMS
No, it’s not Rihanna. Despite a strong showing on the iTunes chart throughout the week, the Barbadian songstress’ new album ‘Anti’ can’t manage a No.1 debut in Australia. That position goes to Adelaide’s own Sia, who achieves her second successive No.1 Aussie album with ‘This Is Acting’.
She holds Adele at bay this week, with David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ and ‘Nothing Has Changed’ maintaining their No.3 and 4 positions respectively; the latter picking up a new platinum certification for sales in excess of 70,000 copies.
Which leave Rihanna to claim the No.5 spot as her own with ‘Anti’. Though it’s not her highest ever chart position in Australia, it is her highest since 2011’s ‘Talk That Talk’, which also made No.5.
Rüfüs slides from No.1 to No.6 with ‘Bloom’, Charlie Puth’s No.8 debut for ‘Nine Track Mind’ proves he’s starting to gain some serious traction down under and Dream Theater’s ‘The Astonishing’ is new at No.10.
The unveiling of the video for Coldplay’s ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ provides a bump for ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ (No.17 to No.12), Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ edges from No.25 to No.14 and Bloc Party’s ‘Hymns’ becomes the band’s lowest charting album in Australia since their debut ‘Silent Alarm’ all the way back in 2005 (new at No.15).
The new Megadeth album ‘Dystopia’, which premiered at No.6 last week, is down to No.22 this week. Twenty One Pilots’ ‘Blurryface’ improves from No.39 to No.25 on the back of the chart fortunes of latest single ‘Stressed Out’, but Panic! At The Disco’s ‘Death Of A Bachelor’ tumbles from No.11 to No.26 in week three.
The Eagles’ ‘Selected Works : 1972-1999’ hits platinum (No.27), Elle King’s ‘Love Stuff’ is up from No.64 to No.32 and there are further top 40 new entries from Polaris and Tedeschi Trucks Band (‘The Guilt And The Grief’ and ‘Let Me Get By’ at Nos.34 and 36 respectively).
James Bay’s visit allows sales of ‘Chaos And The Calm’ to spike (No.72 to No.37), Jarryd James’ ‘Thirty One’ is up (and how) from No.88 to No.42, but Jess & Matt’s self-titled debut begins to falter, dropping 19 places to No.46.
Neil Diamond’s ‘All Time Greatest Hits’ re-enters this week’s top 100 countdown at No.52, but ‘The Complete Greatest Hits’ from The Eagles tanks, plunging from No.10 last week in the wake of Glenn Frey’s death to No.54.
Adam Lambert’s ‘The Original High’ re-enters at No.61 due to his national tour, Daughter’s ‘Not To Disappear’ is also back (No.62), ABBA ‘Gold’ re-enters at No.64 and Sia’s previous long player outing ‘1000 Forms Of Fear’ bullets from No.98 to No.65 in the halo effect of new album ‘This Is Acting’.
Another album plunging this week is ‘Best Of Bowie’. It was shining in the top 30 last week (No.26 to be precise), but this week finds itself a huge 40 places lower.
Basement’s ‘Promise Everything’ is new at No.75, Wet’s ‘Don’t You’ is new at No.77, Cold Chisel’s best-of is down 47 places and Celtic Woman’s ‘Destiny’ is with the No.86 spot on debut.
Even ‘X Factor’ winner Cyrus suffers a big drop with his album this week as anticipation builds for his new single ‘Keep Talking’, due this Friday. ‘Cyrus’ drops 49 places to No.91.
The Vamps’ ‘Wake Up’, which re-entered the countdown at No.36 last week after their one-off Sydney show, is again 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 AEDT.