ARIA Chart Watch is back again for your Saturday night’s reading pleasure.
Who’s at the summit of this week’s ARIA top 100 singles and albums charts? Who’s slumped? Who’s up with a bullet? And who’s nabbed themselves a fresh new sales accreditation?
And, might we add, who debuted at No.1? Madonna? Or Bruce Springsteen?
Naturally, we’ll have all the juicy chart tid-bits in the scintillating paragraphs below. So don’t dilly dally…
SINGLES
Kicking off right at the very beginning and once again it’s Lil Nas X ensconced in the No.1 spot on the Australian singles chart with his mega-smash ‘Old Town Road’.
The track continues to solidify its position atop the ARIA countdown, this week by nabbing a fifth platinum certification for sales in excess of 350,000 units.
There’s no movement in the No.2 position, with Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s ‘I Don’t Care’ holding steady.
But there is movement in position No.3. And that would be the new Taylor Swift single ‘You Need To Calm Down’, the release of which last Friday coincided with the announcement of her upcoming album ‘Lover’.
Billie Eilish and Lewis Capaldi are in positions four and five with ‘Bad Guy’ and ‘Someone You Loved’ respectively.
A good second week gain for the new Chris Brown track ‘No Guidance’. With Drake on board, the single bullets from No.17 on debut to No.7.
After seven weeks on the ARIA countdown, the MeduZa track ‘Piece Of Your Heart’ is edging perilously close to achieving a top ten berth. It’s not quite there yet, however, but is up three more spots to No.11.
Drake’s ‘Money In The Grave’ makes a splash in the No.12 position on debut.
Tones And I’s ‘Johnny Run Away’, meantime, has scored its first certification; gold for sales of 35,000 units or more (No.13).
Tyler The Creator also scores some gold love for his ‘Earfquake’ (No.18, down five).
A little further down, Flume scores the top 50 chart love with his latest single ‘Let You Know’. Featuring vocals by London Grammar, the new track is the super producer’s first to hit the top 50 since his top five smash ‘Say It’ (with Tove Lo on vocals) back in 2016.
Mabel’s ‘Don’t Call Me Up’ dips seven to No.32, Halsey’s ‘Nightmare’ dips seven to No.34. In between them both is a No.38 to No.33 rise for Guy Sebastian’s single ‘Choir’.
Hilltop Hoods’ ‘Exit Signs’, meantime, also drops seven (to No.36), while Tones And I’s latest, ‘Dance Monkey’, is up six to No.37.
New entries for Joji (‘Sanctuary’ at No.42) and Blanco Brown (‘The Git Up’ at No.45) follow, but the Ava Max single ‘So Am I’ has now stalled. And dropped. It’s down 14 places to No.54.
Also beyond the top 50 this week, Andy Grammer’s single ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’ edges seven spots higher to a new peak of No.62 in its third week on the ARIA countdown.
Drake scores another top 100 spot with ‘Omerta’ at No.69 on debut.
And, thanks to its placement on a high rotation ad on Channel 7 during the week, Calum Scott’s ‘You Are The Reason’ is back up in a big way… No.96 to No.70.
Billie Eilish’s ‘Wish You Were Gay’ is down ten (No.61 to No.71), Bazzi’s ‘Paradise’ is down 14 (No.58 to No.72), but the Tyga/J Balvin/Chris Brown track ‘Haute’ is down in a big way. After debuting at No.50 last weekend, it’s down a huge 28 places to No.78.
Mabel’s back with ‘Mad Love’, a new entry at No.80.
James Arthur’s ‘Falling Like The Stars’ is… well, falling like the stars. Down 17 places to No.82.
But the Luke Combs track ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ is down a heck of a lot further, plunging 41 positions to No.85.
The new Little Mix single ‘Bounce Back’ starts its ARIA chart journey at No.86.
Its debut is just ahead of a 20 place drop for Logic’s ‘Homicide’ (No.67 to No.87).
Kygo and Rita Ora’s ‘Carry On’ is down from No.72 to No.90.
And though it’s now gone from the top 100 altogether, Khalid’s ‘Saturday Nights’ says goodbye to the ARIA countdown with a fresh double platinum certification (140,000 units). It was in the top 100 for 29 weeks in total.
ALBUMS
The big question this week is… who’d claim No.1? Would ‘Madame X’ become Madonna’s fifth straight studio album to debut at No.1 (a run dating back to ‘Confessions On A Dance Floor’ back in 2005)? Or would Bruce Springsteen claim his second successive No.1 album in Australia with ‘Western Stars’?
Two legendary performers. Two new albums.
Fans of the Queen Of Pop will be gutted to discover that Madonna misses out this time around.
Yes Bruce Springsteen has claimed the No.1 position on debut with his latest album ‘Western Stars’.
It’s The Boss’s third studio album to nab top spot down under and follows on from the success of its predecessor ‘High Hopes’, which also topped the Aussie chart back in 2014.
Madonna’s run of No.1 successes here in Australia has been more pronounced. She’s achieved eight No.1 studio albums here, four of which are her previous four albums (‘Rebel Heart’, ‘MDNA’, ‘Hard Candy’ and ‘Confessions On A Dance Floor’).
Sadly not this time around, however; ‘Madame X’ premiering at No.2 on the ARIA countdown.
Billie Eilish, Elton John and P!nk occupy positions three through five respectively.
Big props to local hero Hayden James, however, who sees his debut album ‘Between Us’ premiere in the top ten – at No.9 no less.
Jonas Brothers’ ‘Happiness Begins’ is down from its No.3 debut to No.11.
The new Amber Lawrence album ‘Spark’ lands at No.13 on debut, Bastille’s latest long player ‘Doom Days’ is new at No.21, but Avicii’s posthumous release ‘Tim’ dips 16 places from last week’s No.6 debut.
Conrad Sewell’s ‘Life’ is down 13 to No.30, Tyga’s ‘Legendary’ drops 20 from last week’s No.12 debut to No.32. And, thanks to the release of her latest single, Taylor Swift’s previous album ‘Reputation’ enjoys a sales bump, jumping 21 places to No.38. Her ‘1989’ is also back into the top 50 this week (No.54 to No.43).
Baroness’s ‘Gold And Grey’ just misses the top 50 on debut, entering the Aussie chart at No.52.
As his single ‘You Are The Reason’ enjoys more time in the chart sunshine, so too does Calum Scott’s album ‘Only Human’, which jumps from No.81 to No.56.
But Skepta’s ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’ is down 15 to No.59. That’s by no means one of the bigger drops this week. Check that for Miley Cyrus’s ‘She Is Coming’, for example; down 24 places to No.62. Or Meg Mac’s ‘Hope’, which plummets a massive 57 places from last week’s No.9 debut.
GoldLink’s ‘Diaspora’ enters at No.70, Rammstein’s ‘Rammstein’ is down 19 (to No.80) and the Bon Jovi best-of is down 17 to No.83. A big drop also for the ‘The Rolling Thunder Revue’ by Bob Dylan, which slumps 38 places to No.88.
But there are far bigger drops this week, with some albums disappearing from the top 100 altogether.
Motionless In White’s ‘Disguise’ debuted at No.32 last week. It’s gone.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets’ ‘And Not For The Whatchamacallit’ premiered at No.31 last week. It’s also gone.
And Polish Club’s ‘Iguana’ debuted in the No.20 position last weekend. One week on and it’s lost more than 80 positions to be out of the top 100 entirely.
For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE every Saturday from 5:00pm AEST.