Ed Sheeran X was the biggest selling album of 2014 in Australia.
The top 10 ARIA albums of 2014 were:
#1 – x by Ed Sheeran
The second album for English singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran “x” (multiply) debuted at the No.1 spot in the last week of June, returning to the top in late July for two weeks, then when he visited Australia in early October the set scored a further two weeks atop the ARIA Albums chart, then a final sixth frame (so far) in the last week of 2014.
Ed’s first album “+” (positive) has appeared in the End of Year charts for the past four years, 2011 it was No.58, then with a full years’ sales it was No.5 in 2012, and that was followed in 2013 by being the No.13 album of that year, whilst 2014 sees it at No.38. Ed also has four songs in the 2014 EOY Singles chart, with the highest being his five week No.1 single “Thinking Out Loud” at No.7. “x” has spent its entire twenty-seven weeks within the Top 10 and has achieved 4x▲Platinum in sales.
#2 – 1989 by Taylor Swift
The fifth studio album for Taylor Swift “1989” was titled after the year she was born, and instantly debuted at No.1 in the first week of November, staying at the top for two weeks, then again in the first and fourth week of December, whilst it went back to the top for a fifth non-consecutive week in the first week of 2015. Taylor’s previous album “Red” sold enough during last year to be No.96, whilst it previously was the No.7 album for 2012 and No.24 in 2013. So “1989” becomes Taylor’s third EOY Top 10 appearance, as her second album “Fearless” was No.4 for 2009. And like Ed Sheeran, Taylor also has had two No.1 singles from her recent album, and sees “Shake it Off” at No.3 and her follow-up “Blank Space” at No.28.
#3 – Frozen Soundtrack
The now longest running Top 10 Soundtrack ever for ARIA occurred during 2014 as the Disney animated film “Frozen” spent 44 weeks within the Top 10 and is the No.3 album for last year. It’s the fifth Soundtrack album to land an EOY placing this century and now the second highest placed, as the “Moulin Rouge” set was No.1 for 2001, “Coyote Ugly” (#8 in 2001), “8 Mile” (#7 in 2003), “Mamma Mia” (#6 in 2008). “Frozen” is also the third longest Soundtrack album in Australian Chart History (1965 to 2015), behind “Grease” (66 weeks) and “Sound of Music” (2 years). “Frozen” was No.1 in its sixteenth week in May for two weeks when it was released on DVD and further soundtrack album within the 2014 Best of list are “Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol.1” (#22) and the Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons movie “Jersey Boys” (#85).
#4 – The Very Best by INXS
The highest placed Australian act and one of three within the Top 10 are INXS with their 2011 collection “The Very Best”, which took over the charts this year due to the February broadcast biopic tele-movie “Never Tear us Apart”, which propelled the album into the Top 10 for the first time in it’s 3.4 year chart journey, then to No.1 for seven non-consecutive in February/March for four weeks, then from the last week of March to mid-April for a final three weeks, spending twenty weeks within the Top 10, returning there within the first week of 2015. “The Very Best” originally debuted in late October of 2011 reaching No.39, then returning again in late 2012 reaching No.41, then back again for a third time in June 2013 peaking at No.13 in November 2013 and scoring the No.44 album for that EOY chart. This album now becomes the bands third EOY Top 10 placing, with “The Swing” equaling this years’ feat of No.4 for 1984, and then they scored the No.1 album of 1988 with “Kick”, which is also at No.84 for 2014 as the group returned their third to seventh albums back into the charts last year.
#5 – Ghost Stories by Coldplay
The sixth studio album for UK group Coldplay debuted at No.1 in late May of 2014 and spent three consecutive weeks at the top of the ARIA Albums chart. It became the bands fifth chart topping album in Australia, and this set becomes the bands fifth EOY Top 10 appearance too, with “A Rush of Blood to the Head” (#10 in 2003), “X & Y” (#8 in 2005), “Viva la Vida” (#4 in 2008, their highest placed EOY album) and “Mylo Xyloto” (#10 in 2011). This album saw the band achieve its equal highest placed single so far, as “A Sky Full of Stars” matched the No.2 peak of “Viva La Vida” and is at No.54 for 2014 and the first single from the album “Magic” (HP-5) is at No.36 in the 2014 EOY chart.
#6 – In the Lonely Hour by Sam Smith
The third and final British act within the EOY Top 10 is the debut album for Sam Smith entitled “In the Lonely Hour”, which also landed at the No.6, plus he had the Best of 2014 Single in “Stay With Me” at No.8. This album is the highest placed non-No.1 album, having peaked at No.2 when it debuted in June, and the album has spent twenty-one weeks within the Top 10 so far and is sitting at No.3 in the first week of 2015.
#7 – Prism by Katy Perry
The No.2 album for 2013 spent a further sixteen weeks in Top 10 during 2014 to become the No.7 album for last year, giving it a total of 24 weeks within the ten all up, and as she toured the country throughout November and December of 2014 it took the album back into the Top 10 peaking at No.8. This becomes Katy’s third EOY Top 10 placement, as her “Teenage Dream” album was No.10 for 2010, and that set sold enough again this last year to be the No.95 album of 2014, becoming the fifth year in a row that the album has appeared, with 2010 #10, 2011 #18, 2012 #27 and 2013 #89. She also landed two singles in the 2014 best of, with “Roar” (#1 in 2013) at No.60 and “This is How We Do” at No.89.
#8 – Christmas by Michael Buble
For the fourth consecutive year the only festive season album to ever go to the top of the ARIA (or Australian) Albums chart was Michael Buble with his “Christmas” set. This year it spent only a single week at the top in mid-December and took its sales total up to 11x▲Platinum, whilst the album has also been in the EOY charts at No.2 in 2011, No.4 in 2013 and No.7 in 2013, and this becomes Michael’s tenth End of Year Top 10 appearance. He is also at No.40 with his last studio album “To Be Loved” which was the No.4 album in 2013.
#9 – Walking Under Stars by The Hilltop Hoods
The second Australian act in the Top 10 for 2014 is Adelaide hip-hop group The Hilltop Hoods with their sixth studio and fourth consecutive No.1 album “Walking Under Stars”, which was also their fourth album to debut at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, doing so in mid-August for two weeks (their last two albums also spent two weeks at No.1). The album is the acts first EOY Top 10 appearance, having previously gone as high as No.12 in 2009 for “State of the Art”, and the third single from the current album also became the bands highest charting and longest running Top 10 single “Cosby Sweater” which was No.47 for last year.
#10 – Jukebox by Human Nature
The ninth studio album and the Australian groups fifth covers album “Jukebox” debuted and peaked at No.2 for two weeks in early November, and becomes the tenth biggest selling album for last year. This is the vocal groups second Top 10 EOY appearance, as they had the No.3 album of 2006 with their first covers set “Reach Out: The Motown Record”, and in 2013 they had the No.16 album with their festive collection “The Christmas Album”.
Just outside of the Top 10, there are three more Australian No.1 albums, at No.11 is the self-titled debut album for 5 Seconds of Summer, which debuted at the top in the first week of July, the act also scoring a No.1 spot in Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and America. Another act who debuted at the top of the ARIA Albums chart with their debut album was Chet Faker with “Built on Glass”, which did so in late April spending two weeks at the top, and the album also won the award “ARIA Album of Year”, and it is the No.12 recording of 2014, whilst the No.13 of last year was the seventeenth studio and fifth No.1 album for rock legends AC/DC entitled “Rock or Bust”. The album debuted at No.1 in the second week of December, so it has only had four weeks of sales to be placed this high.
Further Australian acts to land in the End of Year for 2014 are Jimmy Barnes with “30:30 Hindsight” (#1 for one week 8-Sept) at No.19, “Triple J’s Like a Version Vol.10” No.21 (#1 for one week 20-Oct) beating their previous best of #24 in 2011 for Volume 7. “Let the Ocean Take Me” by The Amity Affliction is at No.24 (#1 for one week 16-June), the self-titled album for Angus & Julia Stone at No.28 (#1 for one week 11-Aug), Sia with “1000 Forms of Fear” at No.34 (#1 for one week 14-July), the self-titled and third No.2 album for The Veronicas at No.35, X-Factor 2013 runner-up Taylor Henderson with his second album “Burnt Letters” (#1 for one week 21-July) at No.36, Sheppard with their debut album “Bombs Away” (#41), Iggy Azalea with her album “The New Classic” (#43), Vance Joy with “Dream Your Life Away” (#1 for one week 15-Sept) at No.44, The John Butler Trio with “Flesh & Blood” at No.47 and the fourth ever EOY appearance but first Top 50 placing for Sydney church Hillsong with their album “No Other Name” at No.50.
In the lower fifty there are also Jessica Mauboy with “Beautiful” (#51), Missy Higgins and “Oz” (#52), Rufus with “Atlas” (#58), Dan Sultan and “Blackbird” (#59), Violent Soho with “Hungry Ghost” (#60), the self-titled album for Flume (#67), Keith Urban with “Fuse” (#69) and again with “The Story So Far” (#94), the self-titled debut album for 2014 X-Factor runner-up Dean Ray (#75), Russell Morris with “Van Diemen’s Land” (#76), Guy Sebastian and “Madness” (#78), Neil Finn and Paul Kelly with “Goin’ Your Way” (#79), 2014 X-Factor winner Marlisa with her self-titled set (#83), Bliss N’ Eso with “Circus in the Sky” (#89), Illy and “Cinematic” (#90), The Wiggles’ “Hot Potatoes: The Best of” (#91) the 2011 collections first ever EOY appearance and the band third overall, and Boy & Bear with “Harlequin Dream” (#92).
Further No.1 albums to appear in the EOY chart are One Direction with their fourth consecutive No.1 album simply entitled “Four” (#14), Foo Fighters and “Sonic Highways” (#16), Barbra Streisand with “Partners” (#17), Pharrell Williams with “G I R L” (#18), “True” by Avicii (#26), the self-titled album for Beyonce (#27), Lana Del Rey with “Ultraviolence” (#31), “My Everything” by Ariana Grande (#37) Bruce Springsteen and “High Hopes” (#39), “5: The Gray Chapter” by Slipknot (#55), The Madden Brothers with “Greetings from California” (#65), “Turn Blue” by The Black Keys (#72), and finally the self-titled album for MKTO at No.97, whilst the only No.1 album from 2014 not within the Top 100 is Kylie Minogue’s “Kiss Me Once” from mid-March.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan
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