Ed Sheeran returns to the No.1 spot on the ARIA Albums chart with his second album “x” (positive) for a seventh non-consecutive week and for its fifth run at the top of the Australian charts.
“x” was last at the top in the final week of last year (29-Dec-2014) and missed out on returning to the top spot when he toured here in April as it sat at No.2 for three weeks, but now the set returns to the top and is newly certified 6x▲Platinum in sales. With Mother’s Day in Australia last weekend, only half of last weeks sales fell during the chart week, but this week mums’ day sales continue to boost positions for such themed titles, like Josh Groban and his Broadway covers album “Stages” which blasts back up nine places to a new peak of No.2 this week. This also becomes the highest charting album for Josh here, as his previous best effort was “Awake” which hit No.5 in early May (aka Mothers Day sales period) 2007.
The highest new entry this week is the new No.1 digital selling album, the soundtrack to the sequel film “Pitch Perfect 2”, which by coming in at No.3 charts higher than the original soundtrack (up ten this week to No.16) achieved, as the first set peaked at No.9 in its sixth week on the charts (late January 2013), and by entering within the Top 10 it keeps the ‘soundtrack’ Top 10 track record alive. There has been a soundtrack in the Top 10 every week (but one) since the start of February this year, as the ‘Furious 7’ set falls out of the ten this week.
Sam Smith is down a place to No.4 with “In the Lonely Hour” and last weeks No.1 debut for Mumford & Sons “Wilder Mind” drops four spots to No.5 this week. Also down a single place are Meghan Trainor with “Title” and “Jukebox” for Human Nature to No.6 and No.8 respectively. Sia again pops back into the Top 10 with her former No.1 set “1000 Forms of Fear”, up eight places to No.7 and also returning to the ten after one week outside of it is Taylor Swift with “1989”, up three to No.9 and newly crowned 5x▲Platinum in sales, with Lee Kernaghan down two places to No.10 with his former chart-topper “Spirit of the ANZAC”.
UP: Both Bette Midler’s “It’s the Girls” and James Bay with “Chaos & the Calm” are back up a place each to No.12 and No.13 respectively, whilst I mentioned above that the first “Pitch Perfect” soundtrack is back up ten places to No.16 whilst also returning to the Top 20, up ten places to No.19 are Vance Joy with “Dream Your Life Away”. Kelly Clarkson was in the country on a promo visit last week, and that helps her latest album “Piece by Piece” to jump back up fourteen spots to No.23. The “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack is back up seven places to No.25 and the newly released DVD and BR for “Fifty Shades of Grey” helps its soundtrack to climb back up four places to No.26. The Eagles “Selected Works 1972-1999” jumps back up twelve places to No.27 and Patricio Buanne and his new set “Viva La Dolce Vita” is up seven spots to a new peak of No.33 thanks to Mothers Day and his recent visit here. Ariana Grande jumps back up twenty-nine spots to No.39 with her former No.1 set “My Everything” and also back into the fifty are “Carrie & Lowell” for Sufjan Stevens (55 to 41), “Songs from Ireland” by Damien Leith (52 to 42) and returning to the Top 100 within the fifty are two acts who are currently touring Spandau Ballet and “The Story: The Very Best of” (HP-22) at No.46 and “The Very Best of” for Backstreet Boys at No.50.
DOWN: The first of four alums leaving the Top 10 this week is the aforementioned ‘Furious 7’ (HP-3×3, WI10-5) soundtrack, down two spots to No.11, whilst the other three albums to leave all debuted within the ten last week. “Skydancer” for In Hearts Wake drops twelve places to No.14, the Triple j compilation set “Beat the Drum” drops five places to No.15 and the first Top 10 here for the Zac Brown Band “Jekyll + Hyde” is down eleven places to No.17. The Wombats also tumble eleven places to No.28 with “Glitterbug”, Alabama Shakes don’t fall as hard in their third week with “Sound & Color” is down seven to No.25, but falling eighteen to No.38 are Blur with “The Magic Whip” and after blasting back into the fifty last week, David Guetta and “Listen” drops down nineteen this week to No.44. “Timeless” for Dr. Hook is down seven to No.45 and leaving from last weeks fifty are Hiatus Kaiyote (22 to 56), Alison Wonderland (49 to 59), Troy Cassar-Daley (36 to 60), recent tourists The Script (24 to 62), Smokie (50 to 70), Gang of Youths (33 to 80), Best Coast (43 to 81), Millencolin (46 to 99) and dropping out of the hundred from last weeks Top 50 is Catherine Britt with “Boneshaker” (#41).
The US hip-hop TV drama screened here on Channel 10 “Empire: Season 1” see the soundtrack come in at No.31 this week, with the album having hit No.1 in the USA in April. One place lower at No.32 is the thirteenth studio album for Snoop Dogg entitled “Bush” and it becomes the tenth Top 50 album and 14th Top 100 entry (12 studios, one collaboration and one best of) for him.
The first album in five years and the fourth studio album for the first ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ winner (2007) Paul Potts debuts at No.36 entitled “Home”, with his last entry here being his second album “Passione” (HP-7×3, early May 2009, aka Mothers Day sales period). The final Top 50 entry this week comes in at No.48 and is entitled simply “5” for Ed Sheeran. This 32 track album contains the second to sixth EP’s that Ed released between 2009 and 2011. The set contains such singles as “The A Team” and “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” both live and a cover of “Firefly” amongst its many tracks.
Lower 50: Mums Day titles in the lower fifty that climb include Barbra Streisand and “Partners” (62 to 51), “25 Years – The Chain” for Fleetwood Mac (76 to 54), “All Time Greatest Hits” for Neil Diamond (84 to 67), “Greatest Hits” for Queen (80 to 71), “Legend” for Bob Marley (94 to 73), just announced tourist for December in Elton John with “Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits” (re-entry at No.76), with further returning albums including “Curtain Call: The Hits” for Eminem (#61), current tourists Backstreet Boys with their last studio album “In a World Like This” (#69), Tyler The Creator with “Cherry Bomb” (#77), Karise Eden and “Things I’ve Done” (#84), “Greatest Hits” and “The Very Best of” for Fleetwood Mac (#86 and #93 respectively), last weeks No.1 group Mumford & Sons return with their second album “Babel” (#87) and with the second season starting last week the first season set for “Love Child” is back in at No.97.
Ciara sees her sixth studio album becomes her fifth to chart in Australia (her 4th didn’t chart here) entitled “Jackie”, coming in at No.53. A few places lower at No.57 is Roisin Murphy with her set “Hairless Toys”, this being the former Moloko lead singers third studio album and her first to chart here in Australia. Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell team up again for the second time with this weeks No.64 entry “The Traveling Kind”, with their first collaboration “Old Yellow Moon” having hit No.52 in March 2013. The final new entry this week sneaks in at No.98, Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson goes by the stage name The Tallest Man on Earth, and his fourth album “Dark Bird is Home” becomes his first chart in Australia this week.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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