ARIA Albums: Taylor Swift 'Midnights' Is First No 1 Album of 2023

The last week of sales for 2022 sees Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” land an eighth week at No.1 in Australia.

“Midnights” is now the equal longest running No.1 Album for this decade, tying with the eight weeks accumulated by both “SOUR” for Olivia Rodrigo (31st of May to July 5th, 2021 for six weeks then two more sole weeks on July 19th and October 18th, 2021), with the other being this week’s No.4 Album “Harry’s House” for Harry Styles (30th of May to June 13th for 3 weeks, then five weeks from July 11th to August 1st and one more final week on August 22nd, 2022).

Taylor’s tally of weeks at No.1 in Australia now increases to 34 overall weeks from her ten #1’s (holding at No.11 on the ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums {1965 to 2022} listing), while she also increases her weeks at No.1 during this decade to now 18 weeks (from 5 #1’s). Plus the “Midnights” album also joins eleven further eight-week running sets (14 in total) at the Albums summit, with Ms. Swift’s current album also claiming the No.1 selling vinyl album spot, its fifth overall week at the top of that chart too.

Climbing two places to sit at No.2 again for this festive season is Michael Bublé’s “Christmas” album, the same height it achieved in 2021 (No.3 in 2020 and last at No.1 in 2019), scoring it’s now 69th overall week within the Top 10, plus he has two Top 10 Singles from the album this week, a first for Mr. Bublé, as he sits at No.4 with “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and making it’s first Top 10 appearance is “Holly Jolly Christmas” at No.7 (LW-21), plus the album has regained the No.1 slot in both England (4th overall stay) and New Zealand (16th week at No.1 in total) this week. The second and final seasonal-set within the Top 10 is Mariah Carey’s 1994 set “Merry Christmas”, which jumps up seven places to land at No.10, it’s first Top 10 placement for this decade, as it last hit No.8 on December 30th, 2019, while during this decade it has also placed at No.11 in 2020 and No.14 for two weeks in 2021, plus it also has the No.1 Single this week for a third week (it’s longest ever reign) in “All I Want for Christmas is You”.

After two weeks of sitting in its debut position of No.2, the SZA second album “SOS” is down one spot to No.3, while the album holds for a second week at No.1 in both The U.S.A. and Canada this week. This is followed by the second and third non-movers within the Top 10, as “Harry’s House” for Harry Styles (No.3 vinyl) and “The Highlights” for The Weeknd remain at No.4 and No.5 respectively, while Mr. Styles also has another Top 10 entry this week in his second album “Fine Line” which rises six places to No.9 (No.4 vinyl) for an 85th week within the Top 10 and it’s first time this high since it climbed back to No.9 on May 30th (the week his third album debuted at No.1).

The Arctic Monkeys have the No.2 selling vinyl album this week with their 2013 set “AM”, which nationally sees it climb three places to land at No.7, while their latest album “The Car” is the No.15 selling vinyl set too. Either side of the AM set are two more best of sets within the Top 10, with “The Essential” for Foo Fighters up one spot to No.6 (No.17 vinyl) and “Diamonds” for future tourist Elton John moving a single place to No.8.

UP:
The Mac’s “Rumours” set is still hanging within the Top 15 for a fourth week, up to No.12 (No.8 vinyl), while the aforementioned “SOUR” for Olivia Rodrigo rebounds three places to No.13. Harry Styles has all three of his solo studio albums within the Top 15 this week, as his self-titled debut set leaps back up twenty places to land at No.15 (No.5 vinyl), with him last having his three albums this high on May 30th, while a second twenty-place jump this week occurs for the INXS “Very Best of” set, landing at No.17 thanks to a No.19 spot on the vinyl chart this week, with the album last within the Top 20 on July 15th, 2019 (#19).

Last week Taylor Swift had four albums back-to-back, now this week we have three Luke Combs sets (18 to 20), three Taylor (21 to 23) and two Ed Sheeran’s (24-25) all sitting back-to-back. Luke sees two rises and one dip, with “This One’s for You” back up five to No.18, “What You See…” climbing four to No.20 and his latest “Growin’ Up” is down one place to No.19. Taylor’s triple begins with “folklore” (31 to No.21), continues with “evermore” (50 to No.22) and ends with “Red (TsV)” (33 to No.23), plus she has a fourth Top 30 entry in “1989” (32 to No.27).

Last week Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (divide)” left the Top 50 for the first time ever after 302 weeks within the fifty, dipping to No.51, while this week it rebounds twenty-seven places to land at No.24, at the expense of his “= (equals)” set which drops three places to No.25. Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction” continues to rise after the recent tour, this week back up six places to No.30.

Three albums which jump back up chart sixteen places apiece are “The Best of: All for You” by Cold Chisel, “Thriller” for Michael Jackson and the Queen soundtrack for their biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” to No.33, No.36 and No.39 respectively, and wedged in-between those three is an eight place rise to No.37 for the Kendrick Lamar set “Damn.” (No.9 vinyl), while he also scores the No.10 placement on the vinyl chart with his 2015 set “To Pimp a Butterfly”.

Taylor Swift has eight albums within the Top 50 this week, six of them rising and one falling and her No.1 hold, with her further rises being for her “Reputation” set (53 to No.44) and “Fearless (TsV)” (62 to No.50). Tyler, the Creator has two albums which rise back into the Top 50, firstly his 2021 set “Call Me if You Get Lost” is up nineteen places to No.45 (No.9 vinyl), then his 2017 “Flower Boy” sprouts twenty-one places to plant itself at No.47 (No.6 vinyl), and in-between them is an eight place return to the fifty for Doja Cat’s “Planet Her” (54 to No.46).

DOWN:
The two Top 10 dropouts this week are both Christmas sets, starting with a small dip of five places to No.11 for “A Family Christmas” for the Bocelli familia (HP-3, WI10-7), while the “Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train” (HP-1×1, WI10-8) tumbles twenty-four places to No.32, while the third and final seasonal-set outside of the Top 10 sees Jimmy Barnes’ “Blue Christmas” fall twenty-four places also, down to No.35.

Eminem’s two collections remain within the Top 30, with his “Curtain Call: The Hits” on hold at No.14, and his “Curtain Call 2” down two to No.29. “Heroes and Villains” for Metro Boomin’ is down four places to No.16, with the next major drop occurring for Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, down seven to No.28 (No.16 vinyl).

Taylor Swift’s only album to drop this week is her “Lover” set, down four places to No.34, and after rebounding into the Top 20 last week, this week the Bruce Springsteen covers set “Only the Strong Survive” halves it’s position from last week by dropping nineteen places to No.38. The Drake and 21 Savage collaboration “Her Loss” falls fourteen chart-rungs to No.42.

The debut Billie Eilish set “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” leaves the Top 40 for the first time in its 196 week chart-run (3 years, 10 months) by dipping five places to No.43. With one Queen album leaping, their “Greatest Hits” set falls back down twenty-three places to No.48, followed by a nine place drop to No.49 for Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album”.

NO NEW ENTRIES.

No new Certifications 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 23rd to the 29th of December 2022.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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