• It’s the Saturday edition of The Purge and it kicks off this week with the new single for French producer Martin Solveig. ‘Do It Right’, which landed at both media and retail yesterday, features a vocal appearance from up and coming local artist Tkay Maidza, whose star continues to dazzle and who caught the attention of Martin, who was keen to team up with her on a production. Job done.
• Desiigner’s former US No.1 smash ‘Panda’ might have been in the ARIA singles chart for a little under seven weeks (it officially hits the seven week mark tonight), but it’s done well enough to earn itself a fresh gold certification, according to Desiigner’s local label Universal Music. The single improved one place to No.15 on last weekend’s chart. Find out at 6pm tonight on Chart Watch whether it’s stayed steady or shifted up or down!
• The Ivor Novello Awards were handed out in London during the week, with music superstar Adele being crowned the Songwriter Of The Year for 2016. Other gongs awarded on the night included the Lifetime Achievement Award for Blur’s Damon Albarn, the Best Song Musically and Lyrically for Jamie Lawson’s ‘Wasn’t Expecting That’ and the Best Contemporary Song, which went to Snakehips and Chance The Rapper for ‘All My Friends’.
• German outfit Digitalism hasn’t played live dates in Australia in three years, so excitement it building ahead of their visit early next month. And the band has just announced a Melbourne show, in addition to those already confirmed in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. They’ll play the city’s Platform One on Saturday June 11 as past of the Queen’s Birthday Weekend celebrations and tickets are on sale now.
• New Zealand soul diva Aaradhna will play shows in Sydney and Melbourne next month as part of her ‘Introduction To Brown Girl’ tour. She’s at the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney on Friday June 03 and Howler in Melbourne on Saturday June 04. The shows are precisely what they advertise… an introduction to her forthcoming album ‘Brown Girl’, the campaign for which got off to a flying start yesterday with the release of lead single ‘Welcome To The Jungle’. Tickets for both shows, meanwhile, are also now available.
• The Amity Affliction will touch down in Australia in August for shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The band was last in the country for arena dates in December, but they’ll make things more intimate this time around, playing The Tivoli in Brisbane on August 19, the Metro Theatre in Sydney on August 26 and 170 Russell in Melbourne on August 31. A Telstra pre-sale kicks off from 10am on Monday, with general public tickets live from midday on Wednesday May 25.
• No change to the No.1 position on the UK singles chart this week, with Drake holding on with ‘Once Dance’. Justin Timberlake edges to No.2 with ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’, swapping places with Calvin Harris and Rihanna. Positions four through six remain steady, but someone’s hit ‘Panda’ clearly has Desiigns on the top spot, improving from No.12 to No.7. Drake and Rihanna’s ‘Too Good’ bullets from No.23 to No.8.
• Over on the UK albums chart, Drake’s back enjoying his ‘Views’ from the top of the heap, after dropping from top spot to No.4 last week. Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ fizzes up to No.2, while the Kygo album ‘Cloud Nine’ nabs the week’s highest debut in position three. That leaves Radiohead’s album ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ to do as Drake did last week; drop from No.1 to No.4. New at No.5 is Meghan Trainor’s album ‘Thank You’, but there’s a lot of air between it and the next best debut from Corinne Bailey Rae’s ‘The Heart Speaks In Whispers’ (No.14).
• BOOM! Justin Timberlake is back in a big, big way with his new single ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’. Infectious though it may be, it’s also incredibly successful, debuting right at the very top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It’s the singer’s fourth US No.1 single, but his first since ‘What Goes Around… Comes Around’ a decade ago. That means Drake’s single ‘One Dance’, which only moved into the No.1 position last week, is already down to No.2. In fact, each of last week’s top five moves down just one position thanks to JT, with Rihanna’s ‘Needed Me’ the only single to make it into the top ten (No.13 to No.10).
• Drake might have lost his grip on No.1 on the Billboard singles chart, but he’s still flying the flag on top of the albums chart with ‘Views’. Beyoncé remains in the No.2 position, ahead of a No.3 debut for Radiohead’s ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ and a No.4 debut for Keith Urban’s ‘Ripcord’. Country singer Cole Swindell nabs the No.6 spot on debut with ‘You Should Be Here’ and the new Mike Posner album ‘At Night, Alone.’ just misses a top ten debut, coming in at No.12.
• That’s about it for your chart info at the moment – and also for your Saturday edition of The Purge – but we’ll be back at 6pm on the East Coast with our weekly look at the ARIA top 100 charts. It’s called Chart Watch and it’s live tonight.
TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY MAY 23 : Slipknot (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
WEDNESDAY MAY 25 : The Amity Affliction (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane)
Australia's first stop for pop!