John Mayer lands his second consecutive number one in Australia as his sixth studio album “Paradise Valley” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums chart this week.
“Paradise Valley” is the 680th No.1 album in Australia (1965 – 2013) and the 539th for ARIA (1983 – 2013), and John was last at the top in June 2012 with his fifth album “Born and Raised” for a single week. Columbia Records was last at the top of the Australian charts ten number one’s ago when Daft Punk debuted with “Random Access Memories” (27-May-13), and John’s previous album was the labels last No.1 before that.
It’s the first time that both the words ‘Paradise’ and ‘Valley’ have been seen in a No.1 album title before, and the new chart topper is the 246th album by an American Artist, plus it’s also the 189th by a solo Male Artist, the last one being Harrison Craig back at the start of July. It’s also the 334th album to debut at the No.1 spot here in Australia too, and this new debut for John Mayer becomes his fifth Top 10 album appearance, as all but his third studio album “Continuum” (HP-12, Sept 2006) have made it into the top ten, in fact the five Top 10’s he has achieved have all made it up into the Top 5.
Also debuting at No.2 with their sixth album is US heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold and their new set is entitled “Hail to the King”. It also becomes their highest (of three) charting albums here, as they achieved their first Top 10 entry with their last/fifth album “Nightmare” (HP-9, Aug 2010), whilst their other previous chart entry here was their fourth self-titled album which made it to No.37 in November 2007.
Pink is down a place to No.3 with “The Truth About Love”, and she also drops a place to No.8 with “Greatest Hits… So Far”, which last week achieved 7x▲ Platinum in sales. Fleetwood Mac is also down a place, to No.4 with “25 Years – The Chain”, and Boy & Bear’s “Harlequin Dream” is down four places from last weeks No.1 to No.5 this week. Passenger and “All the Little Lights” along with Troy & Adam’s “The Great Country Songbook” both drop a place to No.6 and No.7 respectively. Imagine Dragons fall a place to No.9 with “Night Visions” (now ● Gold in sales) and spending their third week in the Top 10, but down six places to No.10 are RUFUS with their former No.1 “Atlas”.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Again this week Charley Pride claims a new chart peak for himself and his new collection “40 Years of Pride”, which is up four places to No.11 and could become his first Top 10 album here next week. Ellie Goulding has repackaged her ‘Halcyon” (HP-16, Oct 2012) album into the re-entering album “Halcyon Days”, which returns the album to the Top 100 at No.12, a new peak for the set. Last weeks returnee of “The Very Best of” for Slim Dusty climbs to a chart height of No.15 this week, and with a new single charting within the Top 30 this week, OneRepublic see their “Native” (HP-14) album jump up nine places to No.17 this week. John Williamson benefits from pre-Father’s Day sales, as his new compilation “A Hell of a Career!” is up eleven places to a new peak of No.24, whilst Dad could also be getting John Fogerty and his set “Wrote a Song for Everyone” (HP-6) which bounces back sixteen places to No.37 this week, and “Elvis at Stax” is up a couple of places to a new peak of No.41.
DOWN DOWN: Last weeks No.9 and No.10 were “The Catalyst Fire” for Dead Letter Circus and “Bad Blood” for Bastille respectively, and they both drop eleven places to No.20 and No.21 this week. D.L.C. spent two weeks inside the Top 10, whilst Bastille just spent a single week. Bliss N’ Eso drop ten places to No.22 and Daft Punk is down nine to No.23 with “Random Access Memories”. Robin Thicke falls ten places to No.26 and Harrison Craig tumbles nine spots to No.27. Luke Bryan’s Top 20 debut last week with “Crash My Party” is down fifteen places to No.34 this week, and Bernard Fanning is down eight to No.38 with “Departures” (now ● Gold). Karnivool tumble nineteen places to No.43 with “Asymmetry” and Frank Ocean is down nine to No.46 with “Channel Orange”, which is new re-certified Platinum (▲) this week. The Fleetwood Mac “Greatest Hits” (1988) album tumbles twenty-nine places to land at No.50 and also falling hard are Cloud Control (25 to 57), Bruce Springsteen’s GH (34 to 60), Asking Alexandria (42 to 72), Horrorshow (31 to 88) and after bouncing back last week, Kate Ceberano and “Kensal Road” is out from No.46.
DevilDriver debut at No.14 with their sixth studio album “Winter Kills” which becomes their second Top 15 album here, as their fifth set from February 2011 “Beast” debuted and peaked at No.9. They have also charted with “Pray for Villains” (HP-35, July 2009) and their first entry was with their third album “The Last Kind Words” (HP-46, June 2007).
Franz Ferdinand sees their fourth album “Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action” debut at No.18 this week, giving them their fourth consecutive Top 20 album. Their self-titled album from 2004 peaked at No.12 and then their October 2005 second set “You Could Have it So Much Better” is their highest charting album reaching No.5, whilst their last entry was in February 2009 with “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand” which debuted and peaked at No.6.
Local country singer Sara Storer sees her fifth album become her first chart entry (of new material) in almost six years, as she debuts at No.25 with “Lovegrass”, which instantly becomes her second highest charting album. Her July 2005 album “Firefly” climbed to No.24, whilst her last entry in May 2010, “Calling Me Home – The Best of” climbed up to No.28.
Actor, playwright and singer Eddie Perfect has teamed up with comedy/musical trio Tripod under the name of Perfect Tripod, and their collaboration album “Australian Songs” debuts at No.29 this week, giving Eddie his first chart entry and Tripod their third. The guys have charted before with the albums “About an Hour of Song-in-an-Hour” (HP-65, Oct 2002) and “Middleborough Rd” (HP-88, Oct 2004).
Also making a long overdue return to the ARIA Albums chart is Wendy Matthews, whose new album “The Welcome Fire” debuts at No.31 and is her eighth studio album and first to chart in over nine years. She last charted with “Café Naturale” in May 2004 which debuted and peaked at No.42, whilst her seventh release “She” (Nov 2008) failed to make the charts. All of Wendy’s albums (that have charted) have made it into the Top 50, six albums, one soundtrack and one best of collection.
The final Top 50 entry comes from Florida blues group Tedeschi Trucks Band who land their highest charting album here, as they enter at No.48 with their second studio album “Made Up Mind”. They’ve previously placed two albums on the charts; their first studio set “Revelator” (HP-71, June 2011) and then their live album “Everybody’s Talkin’” (HP-49, June 2012).
Lower 50: With Hillsong placing a new single in the chart, their current album “Glorious Ruins” is back up seven places to No.52, whilst the same can be said for Paramore and their current self-titled album is back up five places to No.56. Olly Murs might have dropped fourteen places to No.58 with “Right Place Right Time”, but the album is now Gold (●) in sales, whilst Lee Kernaghan and “Beautiful Noise” are back up nineteen places to No.62. Slim Dusty sees his new set “The Son of Noisy Dan” up nineteen places also, to a new peak of No.68, and returning albums come from Justin Timberlake with “The 20/20 Experience” (HP-1) at No.74, “Collection 1973-2012” (HP-6) for Bruce Springsteen at No.78, “Long Way Down” (HP-66) for Tom O’Dell at No.92 and Paul Kelly is back in at No.99 with “Songs from the South Volume 1 & 2” (HP-22).
The debut album for US rapper A$AP Ferg enters at No.51 entitled “Trap Lord”, he is also a part of the A$AP Mob, which includes A$AP Rocky, whose album “Long Live A$AP” debuted and peaked at No.7 in January. Also entering with their debut album is violinist, dancer and performance artist Lindsey Stirling with her self-titled set which comes in at No.53. The final new entry for the week comes in at No.80, and is the third hits collection for current X-Factor judge Dannii Minogue, “This is it: The Very Best of”. Her last chart entry in Australia was with her second hits compile, “The Hits and Beyond” (HP-67, August 2006).
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
