Never fear… ARIA Chart Watch is here, with your weekly wrap of all the happenings on the ARIA singles and albums charts. Singles-wise? A big shift into the singles chart by a UK pop group. Albums-wise? Six debuts in the top ten. But who are they? And what do they want with us?
Best you delve a little deeper, with this week’s ARIA Chart Watch.
SINGLES
It’s the third week at No.1 for British singer James Arthur and his smash hit ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ this week, but no change to the certification at this point in time.
Nos.2 and 3 (The Weeknd and The Chainsmokers) are steady, but it’s a big shift upwards for Little Mix and their newbie ‘Shout Out To My Ex’, which bullets from No.16 to No.4. That chart position makes ‘Shout Out To My Ex’ the girls’ second biggest hit in Australia so far, eclipsed only by ‘Wings’, which peaked at No.3 four years ago.
The Chainsmokers’ ‘All We Know’ might have slipped back a couple of spots from last week’s No.8 peak, but it’s done enough within its four week chart run to achieve a gold sales certification (35,000 copies gone).
And the new Maroon 5 single ‘Don’t Wanna Know’ is on the move, jumping ten places to No.11 and proving there’s still plenty of love for them down under.
Zara Larsson’s ‘Ain’t My Fault’ slipped a few places last week, but it’s more than made up for it this week, rising seven places to a new peak of No.17. It’s ahead of a debut at No.18 for Peking Duk’s ‘Stranger’; the boys’ third top 20 hit after ‘High’ and ‘Take Me Over’ back in 2014.
Nevada’s ‘The Mack’ is up ten, Twenty One Pilots’ ‘Heathens’ is down six and there’s plenty of love for Flume’s ‘Say It’ this week; the track bulleting 14 places to No.27.
Neiked’s track ‘Sexual’ has big designs on bit chart action down under, premiering at a respectable No.33 this week, one place higher than The Chainsmokers’ previous hit ‘Don’t Let Me Down’, which secures its fifth platinum certification, having sold through 350,000 copies.
Drake’s ‘Fake Love’ lands at No.40, Jessica Mauboy’s cover of ‘Wake Me Up’ is down ten (No.34 to No.44), Frenship’s ‘Capsize’ jumps into the top 50 (and a new peak of No.46) and earns itself a gold accreditation.
New peaks follow for both Zayion McCall and Zay Hilfigerrr’s ‘Juju On That Beat (TZ Anthem)’ (No.66 to No.47) and Andy Grammer’s ‘Fresh Eyes’ (No.54 to No.50).
Now that her Aussie visit is well and truly over, Ellie Goulding’s ‘Still Falling For You’ is still falling down the charts (ten places this week, as it happens). The Veronicas’ ‘In My Blood’ loses 11 places (No.45 to No.56).
A debut for Pentatonix at No.59 with ‘Hallelujah’, a 26 place jump for Starley’s ‘Call On Me’ after last week’s No.87 debut.
Speaking of debuts, we’ve got some for Dean Lewis (‘Waves’ at No.63), Dami Im (‘Fighting For Love’ at No.64) and even Johnny Cash (‘Hurt’ at No.66). In between them all, Lady Gaga’s ‘Million Reasons’ improves 17 places to No.65 now that the album has started to make its impact felt.
Dropping back this week, however, are Usher’s ‘Crash’ (down ten to No.69) and Timmy Trumpet, MAKJ and Andrew WK’s collaboration ‘Party Till We Die’ (No.46 to No.70).
The Veronicas’ new single ‘On Your Side’ is in danger of tanking… It debuted at No.40 last week, but finds itself a worrying 32 places lower in week two. Hopefully Sony can find a way to arrest the slide.
Drake’s ‘Sneakin’ is new at No.81 and Gaga’s ‘Perfect Illusion’ is back on the scene (re-entering at No.86); as are Disturbed’s ‘The Sound Of Silence’ (No.89) and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Photograph’ (No.92).
ALBUMS
So… six debuts in the top ten on the albums chart. But who scored No.1? Was it our favourite crooner Michael Bublé? Was it pop superstar Lady Gaga? Or was it, as in the UK, the late great Elvis Presley who nabbed No.1?
Well, it was none of them. Believe it or not, Jessica Mauboy holds steady in the face of those superstar challengers to maintain No.1 on the ARIA albums chart with her ‘The Secret Daughter’ soundtrack, no doubt helped along slightly by her performance of ‘Flame Trees’ on ‘The X Factor’ earlier in the week. Not only that, the album goes gold (Sony’s shipped more than 35,000 copies to stores).
Of the rest of the chasing pack, it’s Lady Gaga who performs best; ‘Joanne’ premiering at No.2 down under, equalling the peak of her third album ‘Artpop’ three years ago.
It’s early days yet, but at this stage, Michael Bublé’s new album ‘Nobody But Me’ is his first in 11 long years to miss the No.1 position in Australia. Furthermore, apart from live albums, it’s Michael’s lowest Aussie chart peak ever as a major label artist.
‘Nobody But Me’ lands at No.3 on the ARIA albums chart, ahead of a debut at No.4 for Elvis Presley’s ‘The Wonder Of You’, a No.5 debut for Korn’s ‘The Serenity Of Suffering’ (their highest debut since 2002) and a No.6 debut for Leonard Cohen’s ‘You Want It Darker’.
Also new this week is I Prevail’s debut album ‘Lifelines’, which is into the countdown at No.8.
Kings Of Leon’s ‘Walls’ is down six to No.9, Barry Gibb’s ‘In The Now’ is down five to No.10 and Hillsong’s ‘Let There Be Light’ is down nine from last week’s No.2 debut.
The repackage of Sia’s album ‘This Is Acting’ works a treat, the album bulleting 48 positions to No.12, ahead of debuts for The Koi Boys (‘Meant To Be’ at No.13) and Pentatonix (‘A Pentatonix’ Christmas’ at No.16).
Andre Rieu’s ‘Falling In Love’ is up seven places from last week’s No.27 debut and Katy Steele gets the chart love with her solo effort ‘Human’ (new at No.23).
The Dolly Parton/Linda Rondstadt/Emmylou Harris collaboration ‘My Dear Companion’ drops 13 places to No.25.
New at No.27 is Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Integrity Blues’, down 15 to No.28 is Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Chapter And Verse’, new at No.29 is Graves’ ‘Monster’.
The new entries continue, thanks to The Pretty Reckless (‘Who You Selling For’) at No.33 and Ange Boxall (‘Into The Wind’) at No.39.
But not so crash hot is the news for Lisa Mitchell this week, with her album ‘Warriors’ plunging from a No.9 debut to No.40.
Julia Jacklin’s album ‘Don’t Let The Kids Win’ is headed in the opposite direction (No.61 to a new peak of No.42), Paul Kelly & Charlie Owen’s LP ‘Death’s Dateless Night’ tumbles 14 to No.44 and ‘The Very Best of INXS’ is down 24 to No.45.
NxWorries’ ‘Yes Lawd!’ wraps the top 50 debuts, entering the countdown at No.48.
In the lower half of the hundred, we’ve got DD Dumbo’s album ‘Utopia Defeated’ down 35 places to No.55 and Alter Bridge’s ‘The Last Hero’ down 23 to No.56.
We’ve got the Original Cast Recording of ‘Lazarus’ in at No.57, Eminem’s ‘The Eminem Show’ back in the top 100 mix at No.58 and we’ve got drops for Ariana Grande’s ‘Dangerous Woman’ (No.28 to No.59), Tash Sultana’s ‘Notion’ (No.45 to No.62) and the ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’ soundtrack (No.42 to No.63).
The rest of the 60s serve up a whole mixed back of chart movements; No.64 – a debut for Agnes Obel’s ‘Citizen Of Glass’, No.65 – a 19 place drop for John Williamson’s ‘His Favourite Collection’, No.66 – an 18 place rise for ‘The Best Of Cold Chisel’, No.67 – a 33 place jump for Elvis Presley’s ‘If I Can Dream’, No.68 – a re-entry for Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ and No.69 – a big 29 place drop for Meshuggah’s ‘The Violent Sleep Of Reason’.
Chris Tomlin’s album ‘Never Lose Sight’ has its eyes on the No.71 position on debut, Safia’s ‘Internal’ slumps 27 places to No.82, but The Dilinger Escape Plan’s ‘Dissociation’ has a stinking second week, plummeting 70 places from last week’s No.17 debut.
So Fleetwood Mac’s drop of 51 places for their ‘Greatest Hits’ kinda pales in comparison.
OneRepublic’s new album ‘Oh My My’ was flying high with a No.8 debut just two weeks ago. Last week it fell to No.36. This week it’s a massive 57 places lower at No.93.
Melinda Schneider’s ‘Melinda Does Doris Again’ scrapes into the top 100 on debut by the skin of its teeth (No.97) and Van Morrison’s ‘Keep Me Singing’ is just about out of there, down from No.71 to No.100.
Perhaps the most staggering of all the drops this week, however, has to be that suffered by ‘Chemical Miracle’, the new album from Newcastle outfit Trophy Eyes. Yes, it debuted at No.8 last week. But yes, it’s also gone from the top 100 in week two, meaning it’s lost more than 92 places in a week.
Other albums debuting in last week’s top 50 that are already out of the top 100 are (last week’s chart place in brackets); The Game’s ‘1992’ (19), Two Door Cinema Club’s ‘Gameshow’ (24), The Naked And Famous’ ‘Simple Forms’ (37), Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Evolution’ (44), Jagwar Ma’s ‘Every Now & Then’ (47) and JoJo’s ‘Mad Love’ (48).
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 AEDT.
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