Edition #480 of ARIA Chart Watch starts off with a bang… two debuts, three new certifications and two big bullets all within the ARIA singles chart top ten.
Over on the albums chart, meantime, there are four debuts in the top five! But who’s debuted where?
Find out below.
SINGLES
The ARIA singles chart still belongs to local lads 5 Seconds Of Summer and their international hit ‘Youngblood’.
The track is steady for a seventh successive week and has now popped through the double platinum barrier to boot, meaning that it’s notched up in excess of 140,000 sales across the country.
Maroon 5 and Cardi B remain steady at No.2, but there’s plenty of change in the air behind them.
No.3, for example, this week belongs to Drake, with his track ‘Don’t Matter To Me’ (with Michael Jackson) on debut.
Drake’s also in at No.5 with ‘Nonstop’, also from his surprise new album release.
And if that wasn’t enough, Drake wraps up 40% of the ARIA top ten, with his previous No.1 smashes ‘Nice For What’ and ‘God’s Plan’ bulleting from No.16 to No.7 and No.29 to No.8 respectively.
This week’s top ten is tailed by two new certifications.
The first is for Anne-Marie’s latest single ‘2002’, which blasts into platinum territory, having sold in excess of 70,000 units down under. The second is the Clean Bandit/Demi Lovato single ‘Solo’, which hits gold after selling more than 35,000 units. The songs are at Nos.9 and 10 respectively.
Don’t for a moment think Drake’s done with us just yet… he’s in at No.12 with ‘Emotionless’ and again at No.15 with ‘In My Feelings’.
In between both debuts, there’s a No.5 to No.13 drop for the Billie Eilish/Khalid collaboration ‘Lovely’.
Drake’s also back into the top 40 with ‘I’m Upset’, which leaps from No.42 to a new peak of No.17 (its previous best being No.38).
Right behind him there’s a new platinum accreditation for Cardi B’s single ‘I Like It’ (No.18).
Big congratulations go to Dean Lewis this week, who’s seen his latest single ‘Be Alright’ debut at No.19.
The track becomes Dean’s second top 20 success, after his megahit ‘Waves’ made it all the way to No.12 at the end of May last year.
Dennis Lloyd’s ‘Nevermind’ is now gold certified (No.20).
And his performance of the track on the TV Week Logie Awards telecast sees the Conrad Sewell single ‘Healing Hands’ continue its ascent up the ARIA countdown. This week it’s up from No.37 to No.21.
We have an eleven place tumble for Ariana Grande’s ‘No Tears Left To Cry’ (No.11 to No.22) and a ten place fall for Amy Shark’s ‘I Said Hi’ (No.13 to No.23).
Drake’s back in positions 27 and 28 with ‘8 Out Of 10’ and ‘Mob Ties’ debuting respectively.
XXXTentacion’s singles ‘Jocelyn Flores’ (No.8 to No.29) and ‘Changes’ (No.15 to No.31) ease after his death.
In the middle of them both, there’s a No.38 to No.30 bullet for Khalid, Ty Dolla $ign and 6lack’s ‘OTW’. It’s been in the countdown for eleven weeks, has only made it as high as No.27 previously and now comes with a shiny new platinum accreditation to boot.
More Drake (‘Talk Up’ a No.33 on debut), a No.54 to No.35 jump for Jess Glynne’s ‘I’ll Be There’ after her Logies performance and a No.36 debut for Drake’s ‘Can’t Take A Joke’.
But Khalid and Normani’s ‘Love Lies’ falls 15 to No.35 and Nicki Minaj’s ‘Bed’ is down 14 to No.38. Noah Kahan and Julia Michaels’ ‘Hurt Somebody’ also dips this week (down 14 to No.39).
And while Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ slides 13 places to No.40, it does so with a fresh new ninth platinum certification. That means it’s now sold in excess of 630,000 copies in Australia.
Kanye West’s ‘All Mine’ plunges 27 to No.44, while the Kygo/Imagine Dragons partnership (‘Born To Be Yours’) has eased 17 places from last week’s No.32 peak.
Zedd & Maren Morris’ ‘The Middle’ drops 20 (No.30 to No.50), while The Weeknd’s ‘Call Out My Name’ eases 16.
Not all Drake’s new album tracks made it into this week’s top 50. ‘Summer Games’, for example, just misses out on a top 50 berth, entering the countdown at No.52. Other Drake album tracks ‘Finesse’ and ‘Peak’ are new at Nos.57 and 58 respectively.
There’s more Ed Sheeran news on the other side of the top 50 as well. His former No.1 smash ‘Shape Of You’ achieves yet another certification this week. Not content with a huge 11 platinum gongs, it’s now gone and picked up a 12th, meaning it’s sold through more than 840,000 copies across the country.
Shawn Mendes’ single ‘In My Blood’ has been on the top 100 countdown for 15 weeks, but it’s taken a big hit this week. It’s down 22 places to No.61.
There’s more Drake. i.e. much more Drake. Five debuts in the 60s; ‘That’s How You Feel’ at No.62, ‘After Dark’ at No.63, ‘Jaded’ at No.64, ‘Blue Tint’ at No.66 and ‘Is There More’ at No.67. The latter has us asking the same question. And the answer to that question is ‘yes, three more’.
Marshmello and Anne-Marie’s single ‘Friends’ cops a double platinum sheen at No.68 (down 13).
There’s a new entry at No.71 for The Rubens’ ‘Never Ever’, a new platinum accreditation for BlocBoy JB’s ‘Look Alive’ at No.72 and a No.73 debut for Drake’s ‘Ratchet Happy Birthday’.
With so many new entries from Drake, songs all across the top 100 are taking a dive. The Chainsmokers single ‘Somebody’ suffers a bigger fall than most, losing 24 positions on last week. That said, it does pick up a new gold certification.
Vance Joy’s ‘Saturday Sun’ sets 15 (No.63 to No.78), Kyle’s Playinwitme’ is down 26 (from No.56 to No.82, albeit with a new gold accreditation) and Drake’s back with his ‘Final Fantasy’ (his penultimate top 100 debut) at No.84.
But the news isn’t crash hot for Troye Sivan and Ariana Grande’s collaboration ‘Dance To This’, which has failed to set the chart on fire. It debuted a couple of weeks back at No.39, slipped to No.47 last week and is now a huge 38 places lower in week three (No.85).
Drake’s ‘March 14’ wraps his top 100 shenanigans with a new entry at No.87.
The King Princess single ‘Make My Bed’ plummets 45 places this week, from No.45 last week. It’s now sitting at No.90.
Robinson’s ‘Nothing To Regret’ loses 29 (No.62 to No.91), while Dua Lipa’s ‘New Rules’ gets quite the certification update, shifting from triple platinum last week to five times platinum (350,000 units) this week.
Shawn Mendes’ ‘Youth’ is down 24 (to No.94), OneRepublic’s ‘Start Again’ drops 30 (to No.97) and Ella Mai scrapes into the top 100 by the skin of her teeth; ‘Boo’d Up’ new at No.99.
Demi Lovato’s ‘Sober’, which debuted at No.50 last week, is gone from the top 100 entirely.
Calum Scott’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ also loses its grip on a top 100 berth this week, though it bows out with a shiny new sixth platinum accreditation (420,000 units sold).
FYI… Drake occupies or features on a staggering 23 songs on the ARIA top 100 this week. All but one of those (the BlocBoy JB track) are from his new album ‘Scorpion’.
ALBUMS
No real surprise then to see Drake flying high on the ARIA albums chart this week; his new LP ‘Scorpion’ dominating all others, leaving the competition jostling for position behind. It’s Drake’s second consecutive No.1 album in Australia, following on from ‘Views’ in 2016.
And scramble the runners-up do, with four new albums occupying the top four on the ARIA albums chart.
This week’s second place getter (no doubt a long way behind in the actual sales race) is ‘High As Hope’ from Florence & The Machine. It’s only Flo & co’s second album to miss the No.1 spot in Australia, following on from their 2009 debut ‘Lungs’ (No.3).
The Rubens have to settle for No.3 on debut with their new album ‘Lo La Ru’, while Gorillaz’ new long player ‘The Now Now’ enters at No.4, matching the peak of its predecessor ‘Humanz’ last year.
Everything else takes a tumble as a result, with ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack the only other album still within the top five (at No.5).
The repackage of Guns N Roses’ ‘Appetite For Destruction’ has done the trick; the album re-entering the ARIA albums chart at No.7, with a seventh platinum accreditation. Interestingly, the album re-enters at its equal highest position in Australia (it also peaked at No.7 back in October 1988).
Bullet For My Valentine score the only other top ten debut of the week; their album ‘Gravity’ entering at the even No.10.
With so much action inside the top ten, Panic! At The Disco’s album ‘Pray For The Wicked’ vacates the top ten entirely this week, slumping from No.1 on debut to No.11.
P!nk’s ‘Beautiful Trauma’ is up two (No.16 to No.14) now that she’s in the country on the tour that bears its name.
There’s a new entry for Hillsong Young & Free at No.15 (‘III’) and a No.36 to No.17 bullet for P!nk’s ‘Greatest Hits… So Far’.
The Carters’ new project takes a third week dive, losing 18 places to No.26.
But there’s a debut at No.29 for Pendulum (‘The Reworks’) and a re-entry at No.30 for ‘ABBA Gold & More’ as a) the ‘Mamma Mia’ musical prepares to open in Melbourne next week and the b) the new ‘Mamma Mia’ film also gets ready to hit cinemas.
Ocean Alley’s ‘Chiaroscuro’ is back (No.34 on re-entry) and Guns N Roses’ ‘Greatest Hits’ leaps from No.53 to No.35.
Further down, Kids See Ghosts’ self-titled set loses 22 (to No.48), but Maroon 5’s ‘Red Pill Blues’ gains 20 (to No.50).
Phil Collins’ ‘The Singles’ is back in the top 100 at No.54 and the new Judith Durham album ‘So Much More’ enters at No.58.
Sheppard’s ‘Watching The Sky’ loses 24 places to No.63, while The Beatles’ ‘1’ loses 39 to No.67.
As his new album impacts, Drake’s previous long player ‘Views’ improves (No.92 to No.71), but the news is less than shiny for The Presets, who see their album ‘Hi Viz’ plunge some 44 places to No.78.
That plunge, however, is nowhere near as great as the one for Jack River’s album ‘Sugar Mountain’, which plunges 70 places from last week’s No.11 debut.
But if you thought that drop was big, there’s an even bigger one for the new Luca Brasi album ‘Stay’. It doesn’t stay, it leaves. And how. It drops a massive 74 places from last week’s No.10 debut.
Wait… there’s more. Bebe Rexha’s ‘Expectations’ is also in freefall, dropping 66 places from last week’s No.19 debut.
But the biggest drops of all this week comes courtesy of the new Nine Inch Nails album ‘Bad Witch’, which plummets a staggering 80 places from last week’s debut at No.9, as well as the self-titled Dan + Shay album, which also plummets 80 places, from No.15 on debut to No.95. Ouch!
Christina Aguilera’s ‘Liberation’ is now gone from the top 100 entirely after just two weeks in (No.9 on debut and No.40 last week).
For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE every Saturday from 5:00pm AEST.