2013 is shaping up to be the best year for No.1 albums by Australian acts this decade, as the eighth local act to hit the top are Karnivool, who take their third album “Asymmetry” straight in at No.1 on the ARIA Albums chart this week.
This is the Perth bands highest charting set, as their second album (and first to chart) “Sound Awake” debuted and peaked at No.2 in June 2009, but the lead singer for Karnivool is Ian Kenny, who is also the main singer with Birds of Tokyo who also hit the top spot back in March with their set “March Fires”. So Ian becomes the first artist in Australian chart history to make it to No.1 in a calendar year singing with two different bands.
There were some close calls in the past though, and below are some examples:
*1984 – Twentieth Century for Cold Chisel (23-Apr) // Bodyswerve – Jimmy Barnes (8 to 15-Oct).
*1989 – Volume One – Traveling Wilburys (20 to 27-Feb) // Mystery Girl – Roy Orbison (6 to 27-March).
*2002 – One by One – Foo Fighters (28-Oct) // Nirvana: Best of – Nirvana (4-Nov).
*2004 – D-12 World – D-12 (3-May) // Encore – Eminem (22-Nov).
*2012 – One Direction – Up All Night (from 9-Apr) // Take Me Home – One Direction (from 19-Nov).
“Asymmetry” becomes the first No.1 for the record label Cymatic and the album is the 677th No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2013) plus the 331st to debut at No.1. It’s also the only album to have the word “Asymmetry” in its title and Karnivool become the 50th Australian group to hit the top of the Australian charts (Birds of Tokyo were 49th). Karnivool are also the 85th overall Australian act to make it to No.1 here (BTW: the first Aussie act to hit No.1 occurred this week in 1968 with “The Seekers Greatest Hits”), plus the album is the 162nd by an Australian act and the 322nd by a group (local or international).
And earlier to my first statement, so far this decade we have had three local No.1 albums in 2010, only two in 2011, but last year there were seven, so with eight for this year already from Flume, Nick Cave, Hillsong United, Birds of Tokyo, Bernard Fanning, Harrison Craig, Bliss N’ Eso and now Karnivool it’s bound to be a bumper year for all.
Pink drops back to No.2 with “The Truth About Love”, but she moves back up to No.5 with her “Greatest Hits… So Far” collection. Bliss N’ Eso are back up two places to No.3 with “Circus in the Sky” and making up a third Aussie act within the Top 5, Harrison Craig is down two places to No.4 with “More Than a Dream” which is now certified Platinum (▲) in sales.
Passenger returns to the Top 10, climbing five places to No.6 with “All the Little Lights” and after three weeks at No.10, Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” is back up three places to No.7. Last weeks two Top 10 entries slip down, with “Blurred Lines” for Robin Thicke dropping five places to No.9 and The Voice runner-up Luke Kennedy with “A Time for Us” down four to No.10. In between those four albums is the fourth album for Selena Gomez entitled “Stars Dance”, which enters at No.8. It becomes her first Top 10 album in Australia as she’s previously charted with “A Year Without Rain” (HP-46, Oct 2010) and “When the Sun Goes Down” (HP-14, July 2011). Currently two songs are charting from the new album, “Come and Get it” (#46 TW) and “Slow Down” (#93 TW).
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: With the announcement of their upcoming tour here, Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” album jumps up seven places to a new peak of No.14, and returning to the Top 20 at No.19 (up four) are Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with “The Heist”. Russell Morris is back up eight places to No.21 with “Sharkmouth” and ahead of his “Splendour in the Grass” shows (which were cancelled at the last minute) Frank Ocean’s “Channel Orange” jumps back up thirty places to No.24. Another Splendour act Mumford and Sons see their “Babel” album back up ten places to No.33 whilst they re-enter at No.85 with “Sigh No More”, and Splendour’s Sunday night headliners Of Monsters and Men see their “My Head is an Animal” album back up ten places to No.38. City and Colour leap back up twenty-five places to No.35 with “The Hurry and the Harm”, and Alt-J is back up twenty-one places to No.44 with “An Awesome Wave”.
DOWN DOWN: Jay-Z tumbles eight places to No.11 with “Magna Carta” after two weeks inside the Top 10, whilst “A” for Agnetha Faltskog drops four places to No.13 after five broken weeks inside the ten. Lastly after jumping into the Top 10 at No.7 last week “25 Years – The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac is back down eight places to No.15. Kanye West and “Yeezus” fall down eight places to No.27, with Hillsong Live dropping twelve spots to No.28 with “Glorious Ruins”. Josh Pyke falls ten places to No.30 with “The Beginning and the End of Everything”, whilst Danny Ross sees his album “As the Crow Flies” drop fourteen spots to No.40. The Pet Shop Boys are down thirty-three places to No.57 with “Electric”, with Cody Simpson (who debuted one place lower than PSB’s) is down sixty-four places to No.89 with “Surfers Paradise”. “Not Art” for Big Scary tumble thirty-four places to No.78 and after leaping back in at No.33 last week “#WillPower” for Will.i.am tumbles sixty-three spots to No.96, but leaving the Top 100 from last weeks Top 50 is the self-titled set for Ciara which is out from No.35.
Last Sunday night Graham Norton had the performer Jake Bugg on his program, and this week he is appearing at the Splendour Festival, and now the former UK No.1 album makes its debut here in Australia, coming in at No.25 this week. The final Top 50 entry is the latest compilation for John Williamson, “A Hell of a Career”, which debuts at No.43 and is a two CD set of his songs over the past 40+ years.
Lower 50: Bastille look set to enter the ARIA Top 50 albums next week, as their “Bad Blood” is now up to a new peak of No.53 in its sixteenth week within the Top 100. With a new One Direction single hitting the charts, their former No.1 albums both move back up with “Up All Night” up eleven places to No.55 and “Take Me Home” up seven to No.82. Further ‘Splendour in the Grass’ attendees who benefit are Ms Mr who return at No.56 with “Secondhand Rapture”, Birds of Tokyo who are up nineteen places to No.61, and “Overgrown” by James Blake is back in at No.98. Other returning albums include “The 2nd Law” by Muse at No.67, the ‘Rock of Ages” Soundtrack at No.80 and “Cold Fact” for Rodriguez at No.97.
The only new entry in the lower fifty comes from Canberra band Hands Like Houses whose second album “Unimagine” becomes their first ARIA Albums chart entry at No.51 this week. Their 2011 debut set “Ground Dweller” failed to make the Top 100.
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
