Australian Album Chart: Sam Smith 'Gloria' Lands At Number One

Sam Smith sees their fourth studio album Gloria land first week at #1, also becoming the first 2023 issued album to hit the top.

Gloria (Capitol) becomes the 966th #1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2023), the 817th for ARIA (1983 to 2023), the 599th to debut at the top, the second #1 Album for this year and now the 26th for the Capitol Record label (since their first in 1979 with Bob Seger), and their first in over two years, with their last being the Barry Gibb set Greenfields (1 week on Jan. 18th, 2021).

This new #1 album becomes the second for Sam Smith, as they previously spent two weeks at the top from April 27th, 2015, with In the Lonely Hour, while their last released album Love Goes peaked at #3 upon entry on November 9th, 2020, and was sitting at #100 last week (WI100-79). So, Sam now has accrued three weeks at #1 with their two chart-topping albums, placing them equal 92nd on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2023)’ alongside The Living End, Sherbet, Cream and The Smashing Pumpkins who’ve all racked up three weeks at #1 from two different albums.

The new #1 album also debuts at the top in England, Scotland and Ireland and has entered at #2 in both New Zealand and The Netherlands, while locally it debuts at #5 on the vinyl sales chart this week. This is the first time that the word Gloria has topped the Albums Chart locally, with only Gloria Estefan with Cuts Both Ways being the closest previous ‘gloria’ at the top, while the last album named after a woman to hit #1 was for Kanye West’s DONDA set (Sept. 6th, 2021). The new #1 set is also now the 173rd by an English Act (solo male or female, duo or group) to make it to the top (the last was for The 1975 on Oct. 24th, 2022), while it’s also the 278th by a Solo Male Artist (the last was Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train on Dec. 12th, 2022).

Sam’s competition for next week is the debut album for RAYE and the new Shania Twain set Queen of Me, or we could see Taylor Swift’s Midnights retake the pole position, as it’s again the #1 selling Vinyl Album this week, and sitting stable at #2 nationally, while last week’s #1 set for SZA and SOS is down two places to #3 this week after a single stay at the top, and the album is again the top seller in New Zealand, The U.S.A. (both for a 7th week) and Canada (6th week).

Clocking up a two-year (104 weeks) chart feat this week is The Weeknd best of The Highlights which dips one spot to #4 and logging a 78th week within the Top 10, while he is also up one spot to #8 with his 2016 album Starboy (#15 Vinyl). Jumping thirty-three places to land at #5 is the second Spacey Jane album Here Comes Everybody (#18 Vinyl), thanks to the set featuring six songs which placed within the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2022 broadcast last weekend. They scored the #3 slot with Hardlight, then #5 with It’s Been a Long Day, #6 with Sitting Up and #25 for Pulling Through, followed lower down by Yet at #40 and Bothers Me coming in #75, while they also scored at #113 with Haircut in the 101>200 chart. This is the album’s fifth overall week within the Top 10, having last been this high on August 22nd, 2022, at #7, helped then by the album hitting #4 on the vinyl sales chart that week.

Harry Styles and his Harry’s House set is down one place to #7 (#14 vinyl), and now that Elton John has finished up his final Australian tour his collection of Diamonds falls three spots to #7. The third and final best of sets within the Top 10 is the Eminem set Curtain Call: The Hits which dips two places to #9, while the biggest decline within the ten this week is a four-place slide to #10 for the Metro Boomin’ album Heroes & Villains.

TOP 20:
The two Top 10 dropouts for this week land just outside of the ten this week, with Future Nostalgia (HP-1×3, WI10-66) by Dua Lipa down one spot to #11 and AM (HP-1, WI10-13; #8 Vinyl) by Arctic Monkeys drops five places to #13. Luke Combs’ first set This One’s for You is the only album to climb back up within the Top 20, rising one place to #12, while he dips three spots to #17 with his second album What You See Ain’t Always What You Get. Foo Fighters’ set The Essential (11 to #14) along with Maroon 5’s Singles Collection (16 to #18) both drop down within the Top 20 and Harry Styles’ Fine Line falls three spots to #20.

TOP 30:
Eminem sees his second collection Curtain Call 2 drop two spots to #21, plus it also cracks half-a-year in the charts (26 weeks), while Taylor Swift only had one album in the Top 10 and Top 20 (1989 at #16), she has two within the Top 30, Lover (25 to #23) and folklore (32 to #25), which is back up seven places this week thanks to it placing at #13 on the Vinyl Chart (LW-225). Luke’s third and final entry for his latest set Growin’ Up is down four to #28, followed by further drops by The Weeknd with After Hours (23 to #29) and Morgan Wallen with Dangerous: The Double Album (22 to #30).

TOP 40:
Red Hot Chili Peppers are touring Australia at the moment, which has helped their Greatest Hits set to rebound fifteen places this week and land at #32, with the only other climbing album within this chart region being Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish, up five to #35. Drops occur for Her Loss by Drake & 21 Savage (28 to #33), Lewis Capaldi (34 to #40), Doja Cat and Planet Her (29 to #39) and Taylor’s fifth and final Top 50 entry Reputation (31 to #38).

TOP 50:
The Post Malone third album Beerbongs & Bentley’s jumps back up fourteen places to land back at #42, while a new Top 20 debut on the Singles Chart for The Kid Laroi with Love Again helps his older mixtape’s F**k Love to leap back up seventeen places to #44. Seven place drops are seen by Queen and their biopic set Bohemian Rhapsody to #43 and Currents by Tame Impala to #48 (#3 Vinyl), while eight place declines occur for The Eminem Show to #41, Dua Lipa by Dua Lipa to #50 and Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City to #47 (#4 Vinyl, while he also has #16 Vinyl with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers and #19 Vinyl for Damn.).

NEW ENTRIES:
* #26 (Boot#15) – Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol.17 by Bob Dylan (Columbia) is the twelfth (of 15) in the series to land a Top 50 berth (Vol 1 to 3 were one release), and eighth within the Top 30, with his last to chart being Vol. 16 hitting #20 in late September of 2021. The set contains twelve extra tracks alongside the original eleven from his 30th studio album Time Out of Mind (HP-24, Oct. 13, 1997).

* #31 (LP#2) – Diamonds & Dancefloors by Ava Max (Atlantic) is the second album for the American singer, who saw her debut set Heaven & Hell debut and peak at #7 on Sept. 28th, 2020, with the album having seen five singles issued since April 2022, none of which made it into the Top 100 Singles Chart.

* #37 (LP#5) – Let’s Start Here by Lil’ Yachty (Quality Control/Motown) is the fifth studio album for the American rapper and singer, and now fourth Top 100 entry and second highest charted, as his second album Lil’ Boat 2 debuted and peaked at #36 on March 19th, 2018, while he also hit #62 locally with both his first set Teenage Emotions in 2017 and his third album Nuthin’ 2 Prove in Oct. of 2018, while his uncharted entry here with his fourth set was Lil’ Boat 3 in 2020.

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

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 27th of January to the 2nd of February 2023

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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