Original member of N.W.A., uber-producer and songwriter Dr. Dre debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums chart with his third album “Compton” which is also the soundtrack to the forthcoming film ‘Straight Outta Compton”, the story of rap pioneers N.W.A.
“Compton: A Soundtrack by Dr. Dre” becomes the 737th No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2015) and the 588th for ARIA (1983 to 2015), plus the 24th for the Interscope record label and their third this year after Madonna and Kendrick Lamar (both in March), plus it’s the 384th album to debut at the top of the Australian albums chart.
Of course there has never been a No.1 album with ‘Compton’ in its title, with the N.W.A. album from 1990 “Straight Outta Compton” having peaked at No.51 in late July of that year. This is also the second film soundtrack to make it to No.1 this year, with “50 Shades of Grey” spending four weeks from mid-February, and overall this is the 44th soundtrack/TV soundtrack/cast recording to make it to No.1 in Australia and the 267th album by an American artist to make it to the top of the Australian charts and Dre is the 146th American act to hit No.1 and this is the 204th by an solo male artist and Dr. Dre is the 44th US Male Artist to reach the chart pinnacle here.
This album is also classed as Dr. Dre’s third studio album, as his debut set “The Chronic” (released Dec 1992) failed to chart here and then his second set “2001” originally made it to No.53 in late June of 2000 after first hitting the charts in November 1999, and that album has so far racked up 51 weeks within the Top 100, and thanks to his debut at the top this week, the “2001” album returns to the charts at a new peak of No.30 this week, making it the first week within the Top 50 for this sixteen year old album.
The second album for local artist The Rubens entitled “Hoops” debuts at No.2 this week, surpassing their self-titled debut album which debuted and peaked at No.3 in late September of 2012, with the title track from the album jumping to No.65 this week, and after returning to the top spot last week, Meghan Trainor falls back down two places to No.3 with “Title”. The third and final Top 10 debut this week is the fifth studio album and first Top 10 album for US country singer Luke Bryan entitled “Kill the Lights” which enters at No.4 this week, His previous entry was his fourth album “Crash My Party” which made it to No.19 in late August 2013 and returns to the chart this week at No.89.
“1989” for Taylor Swift holds at No.5 this week thanks to the albums fifth single “Wildest Dreams” coming in at No.43, and down two places to No.6 is Ed Sheeran with his “x” set. “Stages” for Josh Groban is back up two places to No.7 and newly certified Gold (●) in sales (the only LP cert this week too), and returning to the Top 10, up six to No.8 is James Bay with “Chaos and the Calm”. Falling six places to No.9 is Gurrumul with his third #3 set “The Gospel Album” and down four to No.10 is recent visitor here Adam Lambert with “The Original High”.
UP: With the DVD and Blu-Ray release of “Pitch Perfect 2”, the soundtrack is back up seven places to No.19 and the next climber doesn’t occur until No.36, where Lorde and her “Pure Heroine” are back up ten places this week, whilst Vance Joy are back up into the Top 40 at No.38 with “Dream Your Life Away”. The new Drake single keeps helping his album “If You’re Reading This it’s Too Late” to climb, this weeks its back up to No.42 and returning to the Top 50, up twenty-three places to No.48 is Lee Kernaghan with “Spirit to the ANZACS”.
DOWN: Florence + the Machine drop four places to No.12 with their former chart topping album “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful” (HP-1×2, WI10-10) and Alan Jackson is down six to No.13 with “Angels & Alcohol” (HP-4, WI10-2); another former No.1 album in “Currents” for Tame Impala (HP-1×1, WI10-3) is down four to No.14 and last weeks highest new entry “But for All These Shrinking Hearts” by Josh Pyke drops from No.2 to No.21 this week. “Two Strong Hearts” for John and Olivia is down nine places to No.29 and Sam Smith leaves the Top 20 for the first time in his 64 weeks on the charts, as “In the Lonely Hour” is down seven to No.22, and falling fourteen places to No.26 is Northlane with “Node”. After last weeks blast back into the Top 50 from his promo tour, Jason DeRulo falls fourteen also to No.27 with “Everything is 4” and Lamb of Good fall twelve to No.28 with “VII”. Major Lazer see their “Peace is the Mission” album fall thirteen to No.32 and tumbling fifteen to No.37 are Of Monsters and Men. Years & Years drop twelve to No.39 and the self-titled Hozier album drops eighteen places to No.47 as Mark Ronson sees his “Uptown Special” album fall twenty-two to No.50. Falling down into the lower fifty this week are Holy Holy (31 to 56), Hillsong United (40 to 57), Queen (44 to 63), Buddy Guy (47 to 79), and after the last three Led Zeppelin albums returned last week, they all leave the Top 100 this week, “Presence” (#21), “Coda” (#23) and “In Through the Out Door” (#25), with further albums leaving from last week fifty including Lianne La Havas (#30), Zac Brown Band (#39) and The Internet (#45).
The grand-daughter of cricket legend Don Bradman is Greta Bradman, who debuts at No.11 with “My Hero”, her first album and chart entry for the classical/opera singer. The second of four Top 20 entries comes in at No.15, Fear Factory and “Genexus” which is the acts ninth studio album and first to chart here since their seventh set “Mechanize” debuted and peaked at No.24 in late February 2010 (their 2012 album “The Industrialist” failed to chart here), and by coming in at No.15 it becomes the bands third (of seven charted) highest peaking album behind “Digimortal” (HP-10, April 2001) and “Obsolete” (HP-14, Aug 1998).
Local singer and husband of Kasey Chambers, Shane Nicholson debuts at No.16 this week with “Hell Breaks Loose”, becoming his second solo and fourth albums chart entry (he made the charts with two alongside Kasey). One place lower at No.17 is Buried in Verona with “Vultures Above, Lions Below”, the bands fifth studio album and third Top 20 album (and entry) here in Australia, as they have previously charted with their fourth album “Faceless” (HP-15, March 2014) and third set “Notorious” (HP-20, June 2012).
Last April Canadian singer/songwriter Mac DeMarco made it to No.91 here with his third album “Salad Days”, but this week he lands his first Top 50 placing as his fourth studio album “Another One” comes in at No.24, and one place lower at No.25 are The Jungle Giants with their second album and entry “Speakerzoid”, with the Brisbane bands debut set “Learn to Exist” having debuted and peaked at No.12 in September of 2013. The final Top 50 entry is also by a local artist, guitarist Tommy Emmanuel with his twelfth Top 100 and tenth Top 50 chart appearance entitled “It’s Never Too Late”, which is his first entry since “The Very Best of” (HP-22, September 2001).
Lower 50: With the announcement this week of found Kurt Cobain tracks, his former bands’ album “Nevermind” rises back up to No.54, whilst the current tour for Seth Sentry helps his current set “Strange New Past” to climb back up eight to No.59. Tori Kelly is back up fourteen to No.62 with her debut set “Unbreakable Smile” and the “Jukebox” album for Human Nature climbs up twenty-seven spots to No.65. Gang of Youths jump up fifteen to No.70 with “The Positions” and the 5SOS self-titled album is back up twenty-nine to No.71. Returning albums this week comes from Jason Aldrean with “Old Boots, New Dirt” (#67), the 20th Anniversary edition of the third Tumbleweed album “Galactaphonic” (HP-6, late June 1995) returns at No.69, “Freedom Ride” for Troy Cassar-Daley (#77), “Prism” by Katy Perry (#84), Luke Bryan’s previous album “Crash My Party” (#89), “Innerspeaker” by Tame Impala (#92), “Never Been Better” for Olly Murs (#93), Three Tenors 25th Anniversary edition of “In Concert” (#95), and “Dark Side of the Moon” for Pink Floyd (#97), with collections returning for Paul Kelly (#76), Fleetwood Mac (#90), Alan Jackson (#91) and Kelly Clarkson (#100).
There are two new entries in the lower fifty this week, with “The Ultimate Collection” for Paul Simon coming in at No.51, his ninth best of compilation and seventh to chart in Australia. And the sixth studio album for British singer/songwriter Frank Turner becomes his first chart entry here, as “Positive Songs for Negative People” comes in at No.55 this week.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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