Australian Albums: Meat Loaf Bat Out Of Hell Returns To No 1

With the passing last Friday of the artist Meat Loaf, his debut album “Bat Out of Hell” leaps from the lower depths of chart-hell (#336) to retake the No.1 spot in Australia after 43 1/2 years.

“Bat Out of Hell” (Cleveland Int./Epic)” was originally the 86th No.1 Album in Australia when it began it’s eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Australian Music Report (AMR) from June 19th, 1978, holding the top until August 7th, and now for ARIA it’s surpasses it’s former No.4 peak from March 1991 (1 week) and September 1993 (1 week) to now become the 785th No.1 Album for ARIA (1983 to 2022), the third No.1 for 2022, and as the set was the first ever No.1 album for the record label Epic, it also becomes their 35th overall, plus the album also clocks up it’s twelfth week within the Top 10 for ARIA and it’s 42nd week overall (30 from AMR, 12 from ARIA).

The Meat Loaf album has also returned to No.1 in Ireland, plus re-entered the charts in both England and New Zealand at No.3, while here it becomes the third posthumous No.1 album for an act this decade after Pop Smoke (July 13th, 2020) and Juice WRLD (July 27th, 2020), but it also becomes the first ever former No.1 Album to regain the top spot in Australia after the person has passed. Michael Jackson almost did it in July of 2009 with “Thriller” (#3), but his two collections in “The Essential” and “Number Ones” landed at No.1 and No.2 respectively.

Meat Loaf has also created the ‘Longest Gap Between #1 Appearances’ for the same album, as 2,269 weeks have passed since the set was last at No.1, surpassing the previous record holder of the ‘Grease’ soundtrack which had a 657 week gap (November of 1978 to June of 1991). Meat Loaf rises up on the listing for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums’ from equal 58th to now equal 52nd alongside James Blunt and Susan Boyle (13 weeks from 3 #1’s), while “Bat Out of Hell” now becomes one of thirteen albums (since 1965) to have logged nine weeks at No.1 in Australia. His previous No.1 album “Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell” has also returned to the chart at No.37, having hit No.1 for four weeks from September 26th, 1993.

Regaining the No.1 spot in The U.S.A. this week is the soundtrack to the Disney film ‘Encanto’, which here is up two places to a new peak of No.2 (meaning if Meat Loaf hadn’t passed then this would’ve been the #1 Album here this week), followed by a non-mover at No.3 for Adele and “30”, after which last week’s No.1 album for The Weeknd and “Dawn FM” drops down three places to No.4, while the set remains at No.1 in his homeland of Canada for a second week.

Thanks to a heap of placings in the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2021, albums for both Olivia Rodrigo with “SOUR” and Doja Cat with “Planet Her” rebound two places each to No.5 and No.6 respectively, followed by a two place decline for Ed Sheeran’s “= (Equals)” set to No.7. The second Top 10 entry for The Weekend and his almost-one-year entry “The Highlights” is back up two spots to No.8, while the second soundtrack within the ten is from ‘Sing 2′, up four places to score a second week within the Top 10 and a new peak of No.9, while Dua Lipa is back up two spots to No.10 for a 57th week inside the ten with “Future Nostalgia”.

UP:
Three acts who saw J100 entries this past week see rises for their albums, with Kid Laroi’s “F**k Love” sets back up three to No.13 (plus he regains the #1 Singles spot with “Stay” (J100#2), followed by Billie Eilish and “Happier Than Ever” (19 to No.14), and with three songs at No.8, No.10 and No.29 for Lil’ Nas X on the J100 2021 listing, his parent album “Montero” jumps back up nine spots to No.15. Maroon 5 have risen three spots this week to No.17 with their “Singles Collection”, one place lower than it’s former peak of No.16, while the Drake set “Certified Lover Boy” regains a Top 20 berth this week by moving back up three to No.20.
Both Luke Combs albums rebound six places each this week, with his second set “What You See is What You Get” up to No.21 and “This One’s for You” moving to No.27. Rufus du Sol also saw three Top 30 J100 entries, and that has helped their recent No.1 album “Surrender” to leaps back up eighteen places to No.22, while older entries from Pop Smoke (31 to No.26) and Billie Eilish (When We All Fall Asleep, 32 to No.28) also moving back up.
Ms. Swift has two rising albums this week in “folklore” (35 to No.31) and “evermore” (55 to No.41), and with Australian Day occurring during the past week, local acts with rebounding collections are INXS (51 to No.32) and Cold Chisel (60 to No.33), followed by “Donda” for Kanye West (53 to No.34 after his tour in March announcement) and the Spacey Jane set “Sunlight” (52 to No.36), thanks to their No.34 debut on the singles chart with “Lots of Nothing” (J100#3, which is not on that album). Lastly the “Dangerous” album for Morgan Wallen is back up five to No.44 and the self-titled debut Harry Styles set flies up fourteen to No.47.

DOWN:
Three albums leave the Top 10 this week, all of which also depart from the Top 50 too, as The Wombats and “Fix Yourself, Not the World” (HP-2, WI10-1), “Fragments” by Bonobo (HP-6, WI10-1) and the Lime Cordiale and Idris Elba EP “Cordi Elba” (HP-9, WI10-1, which could return next week thanks to it’s physical release on Friday) all depart the chart this week into the lower fifty.
Taylor Swift does not move at No.11 with her “Red (TV; Taylor’s Version)”, but she does drop with “1989” (15 to No.16), “Lover” (22 to No.24) and “Reputation” (36 to No.40). Lee Kernaghan’s “The Very Best of: Three Decades of Hits” falls eighteen places from last week’s debut at No.17 to No.35 this week, with the last two big drops coming from older entries for Katy Perry and “Teenage Dream” (41 to No.48) and Foo Fighters “Greatest Hits” (42 to No.50).

NO NEW TOP 50 ENTRIES.

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 21st to the 27th of January, 2022

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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