Chart Watch is back for your Saturday night’s reading pleasure. And this week we’ve got a new No.1 on both the singles and albums chart, some new accreditations to get our teeth stuck into, plus the Prince effect starts to take hold in the wake of the singer’s death last week.
We cover all of Prince’s releases on both the singles and albums chart as part of this week’s Chart Watch.
SINGLES
It may have taken us a couple of weeks to prove it, but further confirmation of Australia’s love for US singer P!nk comes this week, with her latest single ‘Just Like Fire’, lifted from the soundtrack to the new movie ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’, improving one position to take over top spot on the ARIA singles chart.
The track becomes her eighth number one down under, including her cover of ‘Lady Marmalade’ with the other Moulin Rouge girls back in 2001.
And she has double the reason to celebrate this week, with the track also picking up a gold sales certification in the process (35,000 copies).
Not that Gnash has fallen far from the tree – dropping to No.2, ahead of a roaring re-entry for Prince’s classic ‘Purple Rain’, which is into the countdown at No.3 in the aftermath of the singer’s untimely death last week. It’s the song’s highest ever chart position in Australia.
Drake’s ‘One Dance’ jumps from No.10 to No.5 ahead of the release of his new album ‘Views’ just yesterday, while Dua Lipa’s ‘Be The One’ improves one to No.6, achieving a gold sales accreditation to boot.
The new Flume single debuts strongly at No.7; ‘Say It’ also featuring the vocals of Swedish pop starlet Tove Lo.
The second most popular Prince track following the singer’s passing is ‘When Doves Cry’, which is back into the countdown at No.11, ahead of drops for Alan Walker’s ‘Faded’ (No.5 to No.12) and Disturbed’s newly platinum ‘The Sound Of Silence’ (No.8 to No.13).
Galantis’ ‘No Money’ rockets to a new peak of No.19 (up from a No.66 debut), Tinie Tempah’s ‘Girls Like’ eases slightly (No.15 to No.21) and Prince’s classic ‘Little Red Corvette’ pulls up to the No.22 position on re-entry.
The best of the Beyoncé bunch on the singles side of the equation is ‘Formation’, which enters the countdown at No.24, just a few places higher than re-entries for Prince’s ‘Kiss’ (No.27), ‘1999’ (No.28), ‘Cream’ (No.30) and ‘Raspberry Beret’ (No.31).
Kiiara’s ‘Gold’ is down 13, Zayn’s ‘Pillowtalk’ drops 16, Rihanna & Drake’s ‘Work’ is down 12 and the Chainsmokers’ ‘Roses’ loses some steam, dropping 15 to No.39.
The larger drops continue, with Selena Gomez’s ‘Hands To Myself’ down 17 to No.42, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ ‘Dance Off’ down 15 to No.44 and Jason Derulo’s ‘If It Ain’t Love’ easing 14 from last week’s No.34 peak.
The top 50 wraps with a debut for ‘Home’ by Topic ftg. Nico Santos (No.49) and a re-entry for Prince & The New Power Generation’s classic ‘Diamonds And Pearls’ (No.50).
There’s more Beyoncé just beyond the top 50, with ‘Hold Up’ premiering at No.51. Prince & The Revolution are back into the countdown at No.52 with ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, but Elle King’s ‘Ex’s & Oh’s’ gets bogged in the mire, slumping 19 places to No.54.
DJ Snake’s ‘Middle’ drops 14, Snakehips’ ‘All My Friends’ is down 18, Shawn Mendes’ ‘Stitches’ tumbles 17.
But on the ‘move’ (see what we did there?) is the new Little Mix single ‘Hair’, spurting from No.92 to a new peak of No.60, right ahead of a pleasurable debut for Beyoncé’s ‘6 Inch’ (No.61).
But the falls keep coming; Zayn’s ‘Like I Would’ (down 18), Justin Bieber’s ‘Company’ (down 18), Adele’s ‘Hello’ (down 16), Iggy Azalea’s ‘Team’ (down 21).
Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ is new at No.67, Kungs’ ‘This Girl’ is new at No.70, Anne-Marie’s ‘Do It Right’ premieres at No.73 and the new Rihanna track ‘Needed Me’ is into the countdown at No.75, one place lower than ‘Kiss It Better’, which slumps from No.48 to No.74.
Hailee Steinfeld’s ‘Haiz EP’ even plunges this week – down 21 places to No.76. Beyoncé’s ‘Sorry’ is new at No.78.
A good news story this week is the new eleventh platinum certification for the megahit ‘Uptown Funk’ which, though down 12 places to No.80, continues to rack up the sales. It’s now sold a staggering 770,000 copies in Australia.
BUT Will.I.Am’s ‘Boys & Girls’ plunges 20 to No.81 and LDRU’s ‘Keeping Score’ is 25 places lower, even Tay Tay’s on the nose… ‘New Romantics’ dropping 21 places to No.84. Shakira’s ‘Try Everything’ is down 22 to No.85, Safia’s ‘Make Them Wheels Roll’ tumbles 22 to No.86.
AlunaGeorge premiere at No.87 with ‘I Remember’ ahead of a couple more Prince re-entries (‘Controversy’ at No.89 and ‘Gett Off’ at No.91). But sandwiched between them is Rüfüs’ ‘You Were Right’, which slumps 30 to No.90.
Beyoncé’s ‘Don’t Hurt Yourself’ is new at No.93, One Direction’s ‘History’ is down from No.69 to No.94 (though now platinum after nudging over the 70,000 sales mark), Yo Preston tumbles some more with ‘Love Yourself vs F*ck Yourself’ (down 40 places to No.96) and Beyoncé rounds out the week’s debut with another track from ‘Lemonade’, ‘Pray You Catch Me’ (No.97).
The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ is at No.98 (down 28) and Drake’s ‘Pop Style’ is at No.99 (down 34).
ALBUMS
It’s a big week on the ARIA albums chart, obviously, helmed by Beyoncé’s new album and the death of superstar Prince last week.
Beyoncé triumphs above all, however, claiming the No.1 spot on debut with her new album ‘Lemonade’.
From there, it’s a No.2 re-entry for Prince’s ‘The Very Best Of’.
Aussie pop songstress Dami Im (look out for our latest interview with the singer coming this week) premieres at a very healthy No.3 with ‘Classic Carpenters’; not a bad effort considering the competition she had.
The Nos.4, 5 and 6 positions are all taken up by re-entries for the ‘Purple One’; ‘The Hits / The B-Sides’ a re-entry at No.4, ‘Purple Rain’ at No.5 and ‘Ultimate’ at No.6.
That leaves Disturbed’s album ‘Immortalized’ six places lower at No.7, while Adele’s ’25’ drops six to No.8.
Iconic Aussie singer songwriter Paul Kelly claims a No.9 debut with ‘Seven Sonnets And A Song’, Josh Groban’s ‘Stages (Live)’ is up to a new peak of No.12 in its third week and A$AP Ferg’s ‘Always Strive And Prosper’ premieres at No.16.
There’s an eight place drop for Sia’s ‘This Is Acting’, more Prince re-entries (‘Sign O The Times’ at No.20, ‘Diamonds And Pearls’ at No.22 and ‘HitNRun Phase One’ at No.25).
But Lukas Graham’s self-titled Aussie debut LP is down 16 to No.26 and Rüfüs’ ‘Bloom’ wilts (No.5 to No.28). PJ Harvey’s album ‘The Hope Six Demolition Project’ suffers a similar fall – down 22 to No.29.
A smattering of debuts follow in the top 40; John Williamson’s ‘Looking For A Story’ is new at No.32, Camp Cope’s self-titled set is new at No.36 and Melbourne SKA Orchestra’s ‘Sierra Kilo Alpha’ premieres at No.38.
With his tour now in full swing, Vance Joy’s ‘Dream Your Life Away’ leaps (No.63 to No.39), there’s a re-entry for ‘The Hits 1’ for Prince at No.40 and another for Lee Kernaghan’s ‘Spirit of The ANZACs’ at No.41.
But Deftones’ ‘Gore’ tumbles further in week three. Down from No.1 on debut to No.15 last week, the album is a further 28 places lower this week. Prince’s ‘1999’ is back in the countdown at No.46.
More drops come courtesy of Santana’s ‘Santana IV’ (down 37 to No.48), The Lumineers (‘Cleopatra’ down 31 to No.49), Hilltop Hoods (‘Walking Under Stars’ down 17 to No.50) and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (‘This Unruly Mess I’ve Made’ down 24 to No.51).
Even Florence & The Machine and Zayn are down this week (No.28 to No.53 and No.23 to No.54 respectively).
Prince’s ‘Art Official Age’ re-enters at No.55.
David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ is down 24 to No.62, Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘That’s The Spirit’ is 33 places lower at No.63 and Italian crooner Patrizio Buanne enters at No.68 with ‘Bravo Patrizio’.
More drops come courtesy of Babymetal (‘Metal Resistance’ down 32 to No.76) and Kendrick Lamar (‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ down 30 to No.77).
Prince’s ‘Around The World In A Day’ re-emerges at No.82 and there’s a new entry from Aborted (‘Retrogore’) at No.88.
More Prince re-entries follow (‘The Love Symbol Album’ – No.90, ‘PlectrumElectrum’ – No.92 and ‘Parade’ – No.98).
In amongst all that, Mumford & Sons’ ‘Wilder Mind’ found the time to plummet 51 places to No.96.
Mirusia’s appeal is clearly limited. After debuting at No.21 last week with her album ‘This Time Tomorrow’, she’s already gone from the top 100 entirely.
For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE (now with a fresh new look, with fresh new features) every Saturday from 6:00pm AET.
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