ARIA Chart Watch is back for your Saturday night and this week, it’s really all about Ed Sheeran. While the British superstar might not be dominating our charts in quite the same way he is in Ol’ Blighty, he’s still doing pretty well for himself.
Check out Ed’s movements and the rest of the week’s chart news in ARIA Chart Watch.
SINGLES
With his new album ‘÷’ now in the stores, it’s a big week for Ed Sheeran on the ARIA charts.
The news starts for Ed on the ARIA singles chart, however, where he single ‘Shape Of You’ remains at No.1 for the ninth straight week. But just when we thought the superstar collaboration of The Chainsmokers and Coldplay could potentially knock him off, he solidifies his position at the top; ‘Castle On The Hill’ moving to No.2, The Chainsmokers and Coldplay dropping from No.2 to No.3.
In amongst all the Ed Sheeran chart shenanigans, Lorde does will to premiere at No.4 with her new single ‘Green Light’, the perfect beginning to the campaign for her just-announced album ‘Melodrama’.
Then it’s Ed again. Clearly us Aussies are enjoying both ‘Dive’ and ‘Perfect’ from his new album the most… the tracks are No.6 and No.6 on debut.
Zedd and Alessia Cara’s single ‘Stay’ shifts into a higher gear, improving seven positions from last week’s No.16 debut and into the top ten.
Ed Sheeran’s ‘Galway Girl’ premieres at No.10, giving him 50% control of the Aussie top ten.
In amongst all this Ed action, Zayn and Taylor Swift’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ loses six places and the new Katy Perry single ‘Chained To The Rhythm’ loses five. But the latter picks up a gold sales certification, having sold through more than 35,000 copies.
Ed Sheeran’s ‘How Would You Feel (Paean)’ is down two to No.13, before a massive jump for the new Bruno Mars single ‘That’s What I Like’. It’s up from No.40 to No.14 and well on its way to a top ten berth should it continue its current trajectory and with some falling of Ed Sheeran’s album tracks in the weeks ahead.
Speaking of Ed Sheeran album tracks… another one premieres at No.16 (that’d be ‘Happier’).
But Jon Bellion’s ‘All Time Low’ suffers as a result of all the new stuff higher up, losing eight places to No.17.
Calvin Harris’s new collaboration ‘Slide’ is on the slide (No.12 on debut to No.18) and then we have (surprise surprise) two more debuts from Ed Sheeran. ‘Supermarket Flowers’ and ‘New Man’ are new into the top 100 mix at Nos.19 and 20 respectively.
Snakehips & MØ lose eight places with ‘Don’t Leave’ (No.13 to No.21), but Pnau lose 12 with ‘Chameleon’ (No.10 to No.22).
Ed Sheeran is back with ‘What Do I Know?’ at No.24 on debut.
More double figure drops come courtesy of Amy Shark (‘Adore’ down 11 to No.26), Little Mix (‘Touch’ down 13 to No.27) and Clean Bandit (‘Rockabye’ down ten to No.28).
Ed Sheeran’s ‘Eraser’ pencils in a No.31 debut, his ‘Hearts Don’t Break Around Here’ debuts at No.32, ‘Barcelona’ spices up the top 100 countdown at No.36, also on debut, plus ‘Nancy Mulligan’, ‘Save Myself’ and ‘Bibia Be Ye Ye’, all new at Nos.37, 38 and 39.
In the middle of them all are more drops for Starley’s ‘Call On Me’ (down 13 to No.33), Andy Grammer’s ‘Fresh Eyes’ (down 15 to No.34) and The Weeknd’s ‘I Feel It Coming’ (down 14 to No.35).
With so many new Ed Sheeran songs flying around in the top 40, the big drops continue for the likes of Mura Masa (‘Love$ick’ down 16 to No.40), Frenship (‘Capsize’ down 16 to No.41), Maroon 5 (‘Cold’ down 15 to No.42), The Weeknd (‘Starboy’ down 15 to No.43) and Sage The Gemini (‘Now And Later’ down 18 to No.44).
Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello also suffer the fall this week; ‘Bad Things’ down 17 places to No.46. The Chainsmokers’ ‘Closer’ is down 15 to No.47, Peking Duk’s ‘Stranger’ down 19 places to No.50.
Given Ed Sheeran scores 13 new entries in the top 50 this week, most tracks should be drooping by around the same margin. But some – like Train’s ‘Play That Song’ – drop a little more. It’s down 19 places to No.53.
Rag ‘N’ Bone Man’s ‘Human’ is down 17 to No.59 and the Linkin Park/Kiiara single ‘Heavy’ loses 23 places to No.66.
Zara Larsson loses 21 places with ‘I Would Like’ (No.56 to No.77), the new Jason Derulo single slumps 25 places from last week’s No.55 debut and Lana Del Rey’s ‘Love’ is fleeting… It’s down 36 places to No.85.
In a week when he was confirmed as Australia’s 2017 Eurovision entrant, Isaiah’s single ‘It’s Gotta Be You’ loses 21 places to No.86.
‘Congratulations’ to Post Malone for a No.87 debut. Commiserations, however, to Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, who lose 20 plaes with ‘Side To Side’ (No.75 to No.95) and to Illy and Vera Blue, whose ‘Papercuts’ drops 25 places to No.97.
ALBUMS
Any guesses as to who might be No.1 on the ARIA albums chart?
No guesses needed, really. It is, of course, Ed Sheeran who premieres in the No.1 position with his new album ‘÷’, giving him his third consecutive No.1 album here in Australia.
And he debuts with a bang. What with all its contents spilling out onto the ARIA singles chart too, ‘÷’ debuts in the top spot with a huge double platinum certification (140,000 copies) to instantly become one of the year’s biggest albums.
But while Ed dominates the top five this week, he does have to share it with another UK superstar who’s currently here on her first ever Australian tour.
Adele, who’s already performed in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney, improves from No.3 to No.2 with her latest album ’25’. She’s also up from No.10 to No.5 with ’21’.
Otherwise the top five belongs to Ed Sheeran, with his previous albums ‘x’ and ‘+’ jumping to Nos.3 and 4 respectively.
All this action sees The Waifs’ new album drop from No.1 on debut to No.7, ahead of a No.8 debut for All Our Exes Live In Texas and their new LP ‘When We Fall’.
Kingswood also scores some top ten love with their new album’After Hours, Close To Dawn’, which is new at No.10.
Adele’s ’19’ jumps from No.20 to No.12, Keith Urban’s ‘Ripcord’ leaps from No.21 to No.15 and Methyl Ethel bag a top 20 debut for their new LP ‘Everything Is Forgotten’ (No.16).
Justin Bieber’s Australian tour also results in a jump for his album ‘Purpose’ (No.55 to No.18), while King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard drops 19 places to No.21 with ‘Flying Microtonal Banana’ after last week’s No.2 debut.
Stormzy’s ‘Gang Signs & Prayers’ is down 13 from last week’s No.11 debut, while the ‘Remembrance’ compilation enters at No.26.
Improvements in the fortunes of ‘The Secret Daughter’ soundtrack in preparation for the release of the new deluxe version (with four new songs, including Jess Mauboy’s cover of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’). It’s up from No.42 to No.33. Cold Chisel’s best-of improves further, however… No.47 to No.34.
But Horrorshow have a poor showing in the second week of chart action for their latest album ‘Bardo State’, which plunges 31 places from last week’s No.4 debut.
QSP’s self-titled set loses some of the ground it made up last week, dropping from a peak of No.23 to No.39.
Ryan Adams’ ‘Prisoner’ is down 21 to No.40, Darlene Zschech enters at No.41 with ‘Here I Am Send Me (Live)’ and Train’s ‘A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat’ improves from No.67 to No.42.
But some albums must go down. And that’s precisely what’s happened to the new Holy Holy album ‘Paint’, which tumbles from a No.7 debut to No.43.
Midnight Oils’ ‘Essential Oils’ is down 19 to No.52, Guns N Roses’ ‘Appetite For Destruction’ is down 19 to No.59 and George Michael’s best-of (‘Ladies & Gentlemen’) is down 18 to No.63.
We’ve got a new entry for Gregory Porter’s ‘Take Me To The Alley’ at No.65, a huge 41 place drop for Little Big Town’s ‘The Breaker’ (No.26 on debut to No.67), a big drop for the ‘T2 Trainspotting’ soundtrack (down 35 to No.69) and another for Alessia Cara’s ‘Know-It-All’ (down 37 places to No.73).
Hillsong Worship’s ‘Let There Be Light’ is also down (23 places to No.80), but Hillsong Young & Free’s ‘Youth Revival Acoustic’ takes a bigger tumble, down 52 places to No.89.
Spare a thought for Christie Lamb and her album ‘Loaded’, however. Flying high with a No.22 last week, it’s lost 78 places and is now sitting right on the dot of the 100.
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 5:00pm AEDT.
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