Australian Albums Chart: Taylor Swift 'Midnights' Remains At No 1

Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” logs a ninth week at No.1 in Australia, becoming her equal longest stay at the top of the Australian Album Charts.

“Midnights” now matches the nine weeks racked up by her “1989” set which had five separate runs at the top from November 3rd, 2014 for a 2 weeks stay, then that was followed by two single weeks on December 1st and 22nd, 2014, after which there was a two week stay from January 5th, 2015 and then a final three week run from January 26th, 2015. Plus by holding for a ninth week the album also becomes the longest running No.1 Album for this decade and also it is now one of fourteen albums throughout Australia’s Albums Chart history (since 1965) to log nine weeks at the summit.

Taylor also increases her ‘Overall Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2023)’ to now 35 weeks at the top of the Album Charts locally (she’s on hold at #11 on that list), while her tally of weeks at No.1 during this decade has increased to 19 weeks (the leader), plus the album remains at No.1 on the local vinyl sales chart and it returns to the top spot in England (fourth week) and Ireland (fifth week). This is followed by a rebound of one spot to its former peak and entry position of No.2 for “SOS” by SZA for a third week in that position, matching her No.2 spot on the singles chart with “Kill Bill”, while the album holds for a third week at the top in The U.S.A. and regains it’s albums summit position in New Zealand (third overall week), while it’s also at No.2 in England (LW-3) and Canada (LW-1) and No.4 in Ireland (LW-6).

Three of the four best of collections within the Top 10 this week all landed EOY Top 20 placement’s, starting with a two place rise to No.3 for the third biggest selling album of 2022, “The Highlights” for The Weeknd, while Elton John’s final tour in two weeks is helping his “Diamonds” set to jump three places to No.5 (EOY #14), and Eminem’s “Curtain Call: The Hits” (EOY #9) jumps seven places to land at No.7, with it last being within the Top 10 at No.10 on August 22nd, 2022, plus the fourth best of within the ten is the Foo Fighters “The Essential” on hold at No.6.

Harry Styles is the third and final non-mover within the Top 10 this week, as his “Harry’s House” is stable at No.4 and also sitting in that same position on the vinyl sales chart. The Arctic Monkeys will finish up their national tour here this coming week, which has helped their “AM” set to only dip one place to No.8 this week (No.3 vinyl), with their latest set “The Car” at No.8 on the vinyl chart. Two more returning albums to the Top 10 are the fourth highest selling set for 2022 in “SOUR” for Olivia Rodrigo (13 to No.4, No.11 vinyl) for a 75th week within the Top 10 (one higher than the 74 weeks for The Weeknd best of), while Metro Boomin’ in sitting at No.10 on both charts this week with his single “Creepin'” (33 to No.10) and his album “Heroes & Villains” (16 to No.10), giving the set a third overall week within the Top 10.

MOSTLY UP:
Nine of the 11-20 albums are climbers, starting with a one place hop to No.11 for “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac (No.6 vinyl), followed by a massive nineteen spot climb to No.12 for the Dua Lipa album “Future Nostalgia”, while her first set jumps thirty-seven spots to No.43. The only two rising albums for Luke Combs are his first ‘This One’s for You’ (18 to No.13) and his second “What You See…” (20 to No.14), followed by the second of three rising albums for The Weeknd with “Starboy” (26 to No.15), while lower down he jumps twenty-eight spots to No.27 with “After Hours”.

The Maroon 5 “Singles Collection” takes a massive twenty-three place rise back into the Top 20 landing at No.17, while Ed Sheeran has two albums within the twenty, his “÷ (divide)” set is up six places to No.18 and his “= (equals)” rises five to hit No.20, which was the No.5 Album for 2022. In-between those two Ed’s is the first of three rising albums for Taylor Swift, as “1989” is back up eight places to No.19, with her other climbers being “Reputation” (44 to No.29) and “Lover” (34 to No.30).

Eminem’s “Curtain Call 2” album also jumps up, rising eight spots to No.21, with further climbing collections being for Bon Jovi (67 to No.35), Pitbull (a massive 51 places to No.42 {LW-93}), and Green Day (83 to No.45). Drake and 21 Savage rebound twenty places to No.22 with “Her Loss”, followed by a twenty-six spot rise to No.23 for Morgan Wallen and his “Dangerous” set which cracks two-years in the Top 100 this week (104 weeks), while both Billie Eilish albums also jump back up, with ‘Sleep’ up nineteen to No.24 and ‘Happier” jumping twenty-two to No.39.

Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ soundtrack is up eleven places to No.28, and Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” reappears at No.32 (LW-65), followed by the XXXTentacion “Look at Me: The Album” which zooms thirty spots to No.33. Doja Cat and her “Planet Her” is back up twelve places to No.34 and the ABBA “Studio Albums” set is back into the Top 50 and landing at new peak of No.36 (LW-71), thanks in part to the massive amount of ABBA played over the New Years Eve sales period (‘Mamma Mia’ was screened along with several doco’s).

Another act who saw several of her live specials played over the NYE period was Adele, with her latest album “30” back up fourteen places to No.37, with the third Eminem album within the Top 50 this week being his 2002 set “The Eminem Show”, back up twenty-six spots to No.40. The second album to jump fifty-one places this week is the Lizzo set “Special” (92 to No.41), with further albums returning to the Top 50 being “Live in Buenos Aires” for Coldplay (77 to No.44) and “Shoot for the Moon, Aim for the Stars” by Pop Smoke (86 to No.48).

DOWN:
Harry Styles’ second album “Fine Line” (HP-1×3, WI10-85) is back down seven places this week to No.16 (No.9 vinyl) after returning to the Top 10 last week, with the two other Top 10 dropouts being Xmas sets for Michael Bublé and his “Christmas” set (HP-1×15, WI10-69, LW-2, No.1 in Canada this week) and “Merry Christmas” for Mariah Carey (HP-2, WI10-6, LW-10) which would’ve departed the chart after the festive sales period.

Best of sets for local acts INXS (17 to No.25) and Cold Chisel (33 to No.49) both drop down this week (they’ll most likely rebound at the end of the month as we get closer to Australia Day), while Luke Combs drops down with his most recent set “Growin’ Up” (19 to No.26). Taylor Swift sees two declining albums this week for “folklore” (21 to No.31) and “Red (TsV)” (23 to No.46), while her “evermore” album is at No.18 on the vinyl sales chart and leaves the Top 50 this week (LW-22).

Guns N’ Roses and their “Appetite for Destruction” wanes eight places to No.38, Harry Styles’ debut self-titled set drops back down thirty-two places to No.47 (No.7 vinyl), and the Nirvana “Nevermind” set falls twenty-two to sit at No.50 this week, while they have three back-to-back albums on the vinyl sales chart this week, No.12 for their collection “Nirvana: Best of”, No.13 for “Nevermind” and it’s follow-up “In Utero” is sitting at No.14

NO NEW ENTRIES THIS WEEK.

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 30th of December 2022 to the 5th of January 2023

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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