Here’s your regular serve of ARIA Chart Watch for your Saturday night. And here’s Ed Sheeran once again shining on the singles chart. And with a shiny new certification to boot.
But how did he fare over on the albums chart in the wake of Drake’s surprise new album?
We bring you all the big movers, new entries and new accreditations in our weekly ARIA Chart Watch. And it starts right here.
SINGLES
Eleven weeks. That’s how many weeks Ed Sheeran has been shining in the No.1 spot on the ARIA singles chart with his megahit ‘Shape Of You’.
That’s despite a strong challenge from The Chainsmokers and Coldplay, who rise from No.3 to No.2 with ‘Something Just Like This’. Not only does Ed hold them off again this week, but he scores himself a third platinum certification for both ‘Shape Of You’ (No.1) and ‘Castle On The Hill’ (No.3), meaning both have blasted through in excess of 210,000 copies.
That’s not to say that the Chainsmokers/Coldplay single isn’t going gangbusters too, however. It scores a platinum certification (70,000 sales).
Zedd and Alessia Cara leapfrog Kygo and Selena Gomez into the No.4 position. Bruno Mars continues to climb with his latest single ‘That’s What I Like’, while Lorde’s ‘Green Light’ slides from No.4 to No.7.
Though it hasn’t quite made the top ten just yet (improving from No.14 to a new peak of No.11 this week), Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean and Migos’ track ‘Slide’ has done enough in its four week chart run to achieve a gold certification (35,000 copies).
Jax Jones and Raye hit a new peak of No.12 (up from No.15) with ‘You Don’t Know Me’, while the new Drake track ‘Passionfruit’ scores the week’s highest debut, entering at No.16.
As Ed Sheeran’s various album tracks start sliding down the ladder (‘Perfect’ down seven to No.19 and ‘Dive’ down nine to No.20), some of the tracks that suffered in Ed’s domineering wake have started to regain their chart footings.
Little Mix gain a little platinum ‘Touch’ this week (No.24), but the Stargate/Sia/P!nk single tumbles seven from last week’s No.19 debut. No doubt their label Sony will be hoping for a swift reversal of chart fortunes in the weeks ahead.
Ed Sheeran’s ‘Supermarket Flowers’ loses 11 places to No.32, but James Arthur’s ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ jumps from No.51 to No.33 and scores itself a fifth platinum certification (350,000 copies).
Sheppard’s new single ‘Keep Me Crazy’ improves five places from last week’s No.43 debut and there’s a new entry for the new Clean Bandit single ‘Symphony’ with Zara Larsson at No.42.
After its strong showing in the UK, Martin Jensen’s ‘Solo Dance’ improves seven places from last week’s No.52 debut, while Justin Timberlake’s ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’ improves from No.56 to No.47.
Imagine Dragons’ ‘Believer’ jumps ten places and is now back into the top 50 (No.60 to No.50).
Ed Sheeran’s ‘Nancy Mulligan’ and ‘Barcelona’ both tumble (No.38 to No.51 and No.41 to No.52 respectively). So does Lorde’s ‘Liability’ (No.42 to No.53).
Future’s ‘Mask Off’ leaps from No.72 to No.55. Amy Shark’s ‘Weekends’ debuts at No.59. Kyle’s ‘iSpy’ debuts at No.61.
Though it’s not quite back up to its peak position of No.55, the appearance of the music video seems to have done the trick for Jason Derulo’s ‘Swalla’, which improves from No.74 to No.62.
But Ed Sheeran’s ‘Eraser’ is rubbed out of top 50 contention, losing 17 places to No.65. His ‘Bibia Be Ye Ye’ is down 22 to No.76 and ‘Save Myself’ loses 24 places to No.77.
Even Nicki Minaj can’t take a trick with her new single ‘No Frauds’, which drops from a debut of No.58 to No.79.
Machine Gun Kelly and Hailee Steinfeld are new at No.87 with ‘At My Best’ and the new 2017 version of Nikki Webster’s ‘Strawberry Kisses’ (yes it’s back, but the inclusion of Sam Mac makes it excruciating) is new at No.97.
Justin Bieber’s ‘Sorry’ loses 24 places to No.99.
ALBUMS
Drake dropped his brand new album ‘More Life’ last week, catching a number of people off guard.
No doubt he did it in the hope of knocking British superstar Ed Sheeran off the No.1 position after just a couple of weeks of ‘÷’ being on sale. His gamble, however, didn’t pay off.
Yes, as in the UK, he still debuted at No.2 on the ARIA albums charts, but Ed Sheeran is still firmly ensconced in the No.1 position and has solidified his position there, hitting the triple platinum mark after just three weeks on sale.
Though Adele was in the country on her first ever national tour at the time, her album ’25’ drops one to No.3 as a result of Drake’s drop, while the ‘Trolls’ soundtrack and Ed Sheeran’s ‘x’ occupy positions four and five.
Zara Larsson’s new album ‘So Good’ debuts at No.7, just ahead of a No.8 debut for the new Milky Chance album ‘Blossom’; the latter result no doubt bringing smiles to the faces of their team at Neon locally.
The new Depeche Mode album ‘Spirit’ just misses a top ten berth, premiering at No.14. It’s just ahead of a big jump for Hillsong Worship’s album ‘Let There Be Light’, which rockets from No.73 to No.15.
Bieber’s ‘Purpose’ is down eight to No.18, Spoon’s ‘Hot Thoughts’ tucks into the No.21 position on debut and Tash Sultana’s ‘Notion’ loses ten places to find itself at No.24.
Legendary British crooner Vera Lynn’s upcoming landmark 100th birthday results in a No.29 debut for her new collection ‘100’ and there are further debuts at Nos.32, 33 and 35 for Gary Clark Jr (‘Live North America 2016’), Elevation Worship (‘There Is A Cloud’) and 2Cellos (‘Score’) respectively.
Kingswood’s ‘After Hours, Close To Dawn’ is down 16 (No.21 to No.37), the ‘La La Land’ soundtrack is also down 16 (No.24 to No.40) and Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Appetite For Destruction’ is down 22 (to No.44).
Client Liaison are back in the top 100 with their album ‘Diplomatic Immunity’ (No.47 on re-entry), while Chuck Berry’s ‘The Definitive Collection’ premieres just inside the top 50 (No.48).
Beyond the walls of the 50, it’s not such a good news story for The Shins’ album ‘Heartworm’. Yes, it might have debuted at an impressive No.16 last week, but it finds itself 37 places lower in week two.
The news also isn’t good for the new Laura Marling album ‘Semper Femina’, which loses 35 places to No.54.
Rick Ross gets his newbie ‘Rather You Than Me’ into the Aussie countdown at No.56 on debut.
But the big drops keep coming; Kasey Chambers’ ‘Dragonfly’ down 24 to No.61, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s ‘Flying Microtonal Banana’ down 25 to No.64, Sia’s ‘This Is Acting’ down 23 to No.66 and Busby Marou’s ‘Postcards From The Shell House’ down 27 to No.68.
Pitbull’s ‘Climate Change’ pops into the ARIA albums chart at No.74 on debut; back to back with Real Estate’s ‘In Mind’, new at No.75.
The debuts continue thanks to Izzy Bizu’s ‘A Moment Of Madness’ (No.86) and Tamara-Anna Cislowska’s ‘Kats-Chernin : Unsent Love Letters’ (No.91).
But so do the big drops. Methy Ethel’s ‘Everything Is Forgotten’ is down 44 to No.93, Midnight Oil’s ‘Essential Oils’ loses 37 to No.95, The McClymonts’ ‘Endless’ is down 16 to No.96 and Colin Hay’s ‘Fierce Mercy’ loses 54 from last week’s No.44 debut.
All Our Exes Live In texas fall further, however, dropping more than 64 places to be out of the top 100 completely.
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.