ARIA Albums: Paul Kelly's Christmas Train Is The No 1 Album in Australia

Returning to the chart this week and taking out the No.1 slot is “Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train” set, scoring a new peak in the process.

“Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train” (Gawd Aggie/EMI) becomes the 964th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2022), the 815th for ARIA (1983 to 2022), the 34th chart-topping album for 2022 (we had 33 #1’s in 2021 and 39 in 2020), while it’s also the fourth for both Paul Kelly and his record label Gawd Aggie after “Life is Fine” (Aug. 21st, 2017), “Nature” (Oct. 22nd, 2018) and “Songs from the South: Greatest Hits 1985-2019” (Nov. 25th, 2019) all spending a solo week at No.1.

“Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train” debuted at No.2 on November 29th, 2021, logging six straight weeks within the Top 10, then falling off the charts on January 10th (from No.8), meaning that it’s return to the chart and the No.1 spot increases to now seven weeks within the Top 10 and Top 100, plus it’s also the No.4 vinyl album this week too, and Paul’s fourth No.1 Album makes him the fourth act for 2022 to log their fourth chart-topping album after Muse, The Weeknd and Slipknot earlier in the year. The album contains an extra track this year, a cover of the Ron Sexsmith track “Maybe This Christmas”, plus his annual ‘Making Gravy’ show was held this weekend, so expect the album to retain a high position next week.

Paul Kelly’s new No.1 also follows on from last week’s Xmas set for Jimmy Barnes, making it only the second time ever that a Christmas LP has overtaken another seasonal-set, the first occurring in 2016 when “Friends for Christmas” by John Farnham and ON-J spent two weeks at the top from December 16th, followed by a returned for a 14th week for Michael Buble’s “Christmas” set (Jan. 2nd, 2017). While Mr. Kelly’s new set also becomes the fifth ever seasonal album to take out the No.1 spot (see last week’s article for the previous ones), while for the word ‘train’ this is the third time in the No.1 station, after “Freight Train Hearts” for Jimmy Barnes (5 weeks from Dec. 21st, 1987) and Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train Coming” (2 weeks from Oct. 8th, 1979).

This week also sees the sixth time during 2022 that an Australian act has taken over the top spot from another local this year, with the last being between Meg Mac (Sept. 26th) and 5SOS5 (Oct. 3rd), while overall this is the thirteenth No.1 Album for an Australian for this calendar year, the 278th by Aussie (solo male or female, duo or group) and the 277th by Solo Male Artist (local or overseas).

Holding the No.2 spot for a second week is “Midnights” for Taylor Swift (reclaims the No.1 vinyl spot), while the album retains its pole position in both The U.S.A. and Canada (5th week for both) and is at No.2 in England (LW-3), Ireland (on hold) and dips also in New Zealand (LW-1). This is followed by the highest new entry of the week at No.3, the second for the Songs of Disappearance compilation of native animal sounds, this time titled “Australian Frog Calls”, highlighting the native frog species which are endangered. The original set “Australian Bird Calls” debuted this week in 2021 at No.5, climbing to No.3 the following week, while the album eventually peaked at No.2 on Feb. 14th, 2022 after its physical release.

Last week’s 15th Solo No.1 (20th if his Cold Chisel albums were included) for Jimmy Barnes and “Blue Christmas” is down three places to No.4 this week (No.7 vinyl), after which is the second and final debut within the Top 10 this week, the second studio album for U.S. rapper and producer Metro Boomin’ called “Heroes & Villains”, which has seen three singles from it debut within the Singles Top 50 chart, highest placed being “Creepin'” with The Weeknd and 21 Savage at No.8, with the album also featuring guest acts like John Legend, Don Toliver, Young Thug, Gunna and A$AP Rocky. Metro’s first solo entry was with “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” (HP-18, Nov. 2018), while he has also charted two collaborative sets with 21 Savage “Without Warning” (HP-9, Nov. 2017) and “Savage Mode II” (HP-4, Oct., 2020), thus his new set becomes his second Top 10 album of his career.

Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” drops down three places to No.6, while it rises to No.3 on the vinyl sales chart, followed by another three spot fall to No.7 for The Weeknd and “The Highlights”, while the second and final best of set within the Top 10 is Elton John’s “Diamonds” set, dipping two places to No.10. There are also four Xmas album within the Top 10 this week, with the third being the annual return of Michael Buble’s “Christmas” set, which bounds up the chart twenty-eight places to land at No.8, logging its 66th week within the Top 10 since it first entered in November 2011, while this is followed by a stable No.9 for the Bocelli clan and “A Family Christmas”.

UP:
Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album leaps back up sixteen places to land at No.11 this week, as Christine McVie passed on December 1st, the albums sales from last week only included one day of sales since her passing, but now that a full week has passed the album sees it’s highest position since it hit No.9 on April 25th. The album also flies from 84 to No.9 on the vinyl sales chart, while their “Greatest Hits” set is the No.19 selling vinyl (LW-63). “Rumours” also jumps in England (24 to No.11), Ireland (15 to No.12), New Zealand (No.3), The U.S.A. (32 to No.20) and Canada (51 to No.20).

Luke Combs saw his third album “Growin’ Up” issued on vinyl last week, and this week the set rebounds nationally eighteen places to No.16, while it debuts at No.17 on the vinyl sales chart and climbs to the No.1 spot on the ARIA Country Albums Chart, plus he also sees his first two albums rise back into the Top 20, as “This One’s for You” is back up six places to No.17 and “What You See Ain’t Always What You Get” jumps seven spots to No.19.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” returned to the Top 50 at No.40 last week, and now the set jumps up eighteen places to No.22, followed by a twenty-two place climb to No.25 for Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album”. Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas” album returned to the Top 100 at No.68 last week, and now this week it jumps up thirty-two places to land at No.36, while there’s one more week of the national tour for Rufus du Sol (finishes Dec. 17th in Perth), who see their 13 month old album “Surrender” jump back up forty places this week to No.46.

DOWN:
Four albums leave the Top 10 this week, starting with “Her Loss” (HP-2, WI10-4) for Drake & 21 Savage and “The Essential” for Foo Fighters (HP-5, WI10-4) both falling seven places each to No.12 and No.13 respectively. Bruce Springsteen’s covers album “Only the Strong Survive” (HP-3, WI10-3) falls down sixteen to No.23, while The Seekers “Carry Me” collection tumbles twenty places to land at No.30 after debuting at No.10 last week.

Ed Sheeran has two falling albums this week, with his “= (equals)” set down six places to No.20 and his “÷ (divide)” dipping one place to No.43, now it’s lowest ever chart position in it’s almost six year chart run (it’s currently at 301 weeks, 6 years is 320 weeks). Eminem had back-to-back collections last week, but this week his first “Curtain Call: The Hits” is down two places to No.14 and his “Curtain Call 2” tumbles down seventeen places to No.28, it’s higher placement last week was thanks to a No.8 selling vinyl edition of the album.

Taylor Swift might be stable at No.2 with her latest album, but her fourth further Top 50 entries all fall in double-figures, starting with “Lover” (22 to No.34), then “folklore” (15 to No.37), “Red (TsV)” (18 to No.38) and finally “Reputation” (30 to No.45). Harry Styles’ second album “Fine Line” racks up its three-year chart anniversary (156 weeks) by dipping four places to No.32, having never dropped any lower than No.38 in the past (on Nov. 7th, 2022).

The Arctic Monkeys’ “AM” set drops down sixteen places to No.33 (No.8 vinyl, plus their new album “The Car” is the No.18 vinyl also), and with their tour now moving to New Zealand this weekend, the Guns N’ Roses “Appetite for Destruction” album drops back down eleven places to No.35. Dean Lewis falls ten to No.41 with his second album “The Hardest Love”, and both Billie Eilish albums drop down in “Sleep” (19 to No.24) and “Happier” (33 to No.44), its lowest chart position ever.

FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #26 (LP#1) – Indigo – RM (BigHit Music) is the first solo album for BTS member Kim Nam-joon as RM (Rap Monster) and now his second chart entry after his second mixtape “Mono” debuted and peaked at No.36 in late October of 2018. The album features fellow asian singers Park Ji-yoon and Colde, along with Anderson. Paak, Erykah Badu and Canadian rapper Tablo.

* #29 (LP#3) – Inland – Adalita (Liberation) is the third studio album for the former lead singer of Magic Dirt, with the album landing in the same chart region as her first two solo albums, “Adalita” (HP-23, March 2011) and her last from nine years ago “All Day Venus” (HP-30, late September 2013), while her new set is the No.2 selling vinyl album this week.

HP = Highest Position
LW = Last Week
WI10 – Weeks in Top 10

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 2nd to the 8th of December 2022.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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