Australian Albums: Gang Of Youths Have Australia's Number One Album

The third studio album for local rock act Gang of Youths called “angel in realtime” has shot straight into the No.1 spot, giving them their second successive ARIA chart-topping album.

“angel in realtime” (Mosy/Sony Aust.) is the 938th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2022), the 789th for ARIA (1983 to 2022), the 575th to debut at No.1, the sixth chart-topping album for 2022, and the second for Gang of Youths and their record label Mosy (through Sony), after their second studio set “Go Farther in Lightness” spent a week at the top on August 28th, 2017.

Two weeks ago local rapper Huskii debuted at No.1 (Feb. 21st), and then last week Midnight Oil took the top spot (Feb. 28th), and now for only the third time this decade three Aussie acts have gone back-to-back-to-back with #1 Albums (and #1 debuts), with the last two times being Jan-Feb 2021 with Illy (Jan. 25th), the ‘Bluey’ soundtrack (Feb. 1st) and then Kid Laroi’s mixtapes (Feb. 8th), while prior to that it was during November of 2020 for Midnight Oil (9th), Kylie Minogue (16th) and then AC/DC (23rd). We also haven’t seen back-to-back Australian Groups at No.1 since April of 2020 when it occurred twice on the 6th and 13th from 5SOS and then Violent Soho, followed on the 27th by The Smith Street Band and then on May 6th for Birds of Tokyo.

The new No.1 Album’s title has previously seen ‘Angel’ at No.1 on four occasions, the last being Gwen Stefani in Feb. 2005, while ‘realtime’ is not a real word, we’ve had no other ‘real’s’ at the top, but we have seen six other ‘time’ sets, the last being Kylie Mingoue’s “Step Back in Time: Definitive Collection” on July 8th, 2019. This week’s No.1 album also becomes the 268th by an Australian Act (solo male or female, duo or group) to hit the top, and “angel in realtime” is also the 412th by a Group (local or overseas) to hit the top here. The album also scores the No.1 vinyl spot in the country this week, and their new set also lands at No.10 on the English Albums Chart too, plus this is also Gang of Youths’ fifth Top 10 and Top 5 album, made up of 1 EP, 1 Live set, 3 studio albums.

Three week’s ago the latest album for Slash alongside Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators debuted at No.68 on digital sales only, and then last Friday it saw it’s physical CD and vinyl editions issued (plus Slash doing press rounds also), thus their new album “4” (#3 vinyl) returns to the Top 100 at a new peak of No.2 (the ARIA website chart states that the album has risen from #606 last week). The new album is the fourth collaboration between the Guns N’ Roses guitarist and the Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy’s backing back for him, The Conspirators (thus the album is called “4”), and the seventh overall entry for Slash (2 as Slash’s Snakepit, 1 solo, 4 now with Myles), his fifth Top 10/Top 4 album and third No.2 set after “Apocalyptic Love” (LP#2, late May 2012) and “World on Fire” (LP#3, late Sept. 2014), with the last entry for them both was with “Living the Dream” (LP#4, HP-4, early Oct., 2018).

Debuting at No.3 is the seventh studio album for Canadian rock-chick Avril Lavigne called “Love Sux” (#2 vinyl), also becoming her seventh Top 10 appearance (all 7 studio albums), and her highest placed since her fourth set “Goodbye Lullaby” became her third and final No.1 Album here in March of 2011, while she last charted three years ago with “Head Above Water” (LP#6, HP-9, late Feb. 2019).

Down two places apiece are the ‘Encanto’ soundtrack and “SOUR” for Olivia Rodrigo to No.4 and No.5 respectively, with the Disney film’s album still at the top in The U.S.A. (7th week) and Canada (5th week), while it loses the top spot in N.Z. to local artist Don McGlashan. The new No.1 Album in England this week is the second mixtape for British rapper Central Cee called “23” (his current age), which here debuts at No.6 (#5 vinyl), becoming his first Top 10 entry in Australia and his second overall, as his first mixtape “Wild West” peaked at No.37 upon entry on March 22nd, 2021 (50 weeks ago).

The fifth and final new entry to the Top 10 is the seventh studio album for British 80’s duo Tears for Fears called “The Tipping Point”, which debuts at No.7 this week (#4 vinyl), becoming only their second Top 10 album in Australia, as their second set “Songs from the Big Chair” spent four weeks at No.5 (2 weeks in early May of 1985 and two further weeks in October of 1986), and 22 weeks within the Top 10. Overall this is their fifth albums chart entry after “The Hurting” (LP#1, HP-15, peaked early July 1983), “The Seeds of Love” (LP#3, AMR.HP-23, ARIA.HP-18, both peaked in the last week of Oct., 1989), and then the pair’s last entry was with “Elemental” (LP#4, HP-56, Sept., 5th, 1993). The album has landed at No.2 in their home country of England becoming their fifth Top 2 album there (4 studios and 1 best of collection).

Last week’s No.1 entry for Midnight Oil and “Resist” drops down seven places to land at No.8, followed by a five place drop to No.9 for the Doja Cat third album “Planet Her”, while Ed Sheeran’s latest album “= (Equals)” dips four places to land at No.10.

UP:
With so many albums landing higher up the chart this week, there are no climbing albums within the Top 20 or Top 30, just a second week at a peak of No.29 for the Labrinth infused soundtrack for the TV series ‘Euphoria’.
The Foo Fighters played Geelong in Melbourne this weekend, a one-off Australian show, and their “Greatest Hits” set is the first album to climb within the chart this week, up ten places to land at No.32, while next week it’s likely to climb again after their show (which falls in the next sales period), after which the debut Lewis Capaldi set is back up four to No.40, while the 2018 XXXTentacion album “?” jumps back up fifteen places to land at No.41.
Only more older albums make upward moves this week, with Bruno Mars’ “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” (2010) back up five to No.43, Greatest Hits sets for Green Day (2012) and Pitbull (2017) both rise two places apiece to No.47 and No.48, while Kanye’s 2010 album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” rebounds four places to No.50.

DOWN:
The five albums to leave the Top 10 this week all land within the Top 20 this week, with “30” (HP-1×7, WI10-14) for Adele leaving the Top 10 for the first time in it’s 15 week chart run, down six to No.11, followed by the two Weeknd albums in “The Highlights” (HP-2, WI10-32) and “Dawn FM” (HP-1×3, WI10-7) down five places each to No.12 and No.13 respectively. Another five place drop occurs for Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” (HP-1×2, WI10-59), down to No.14, while the Justin Bieber “Justice” (HP-1×3, WI10-27) set falls down six chart-rungs to No.16.
After climbing back up to No.11 last week, the Eminem collection drops down seven to No.18, followed by six place drops for Kid Laroi, Maroon 5’s Singles’ set and Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” album to No.19, No.20 and No.21. Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” has notched up it’s overall seventh year on the chart (364 weeks), and is down five to No.22, followed by the two Billie Eilish albums, with “Happier Than Ever” down seven places to No.23 (it’s lowest position ever) and “When We All Fall Asleep…” dipping one spot to No.24.
Four of the five Top 50 Taylor Swift entries drop down this week, with “Red (TsV)” down three to No.15 (#7 vinyl), while bigger drops occur for “1989” (19 to No.26), “Lover” (26 to No.35) and “Reputation” (28 to No.39), plus she remains stable at No.30 with “folklore”. Drake logs half-a-year on the chart (26 weeks) with his latest album “Certified Lover Boy”, dropping back down nine spots to No.27, while also hitting it’s lowest chart spot too is the Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” album, declining eight places to No.28.
Elton John’s “Diamonds” collection diminishes nine places to No.34 while Kanye’s “DONDA” tumbles down fifteen spots to No.36. After two weeks back within the Top 40, the Dr. Dre’s album “2001” moves down thirteen places to No.44, followed by an eleven place drop to No.45 for the ‘Sing 2’ soundtrack. Last week’s Top 40 entries for Methyl Ethyl (#22), INXS (#35), Tame Impala (#36) and alt-J (#39) all move down into the lower fifty this week.

FURTHER NEW ENTRY:
* #17 (LP#6) – Light it Up by Casey Barnes (Chugg Music/MGM) is the sixth studio album for the local country artist and now his second Top 20 and third Top 100 entry, after he previously charted with “Live as One” (LP#3, HP-97, Sept. 2016) and his last entry “Town of a Million Dreams” (LP#5, HP-16, late April of 2020), plus his new album has also debuted at No.2 on the ARIA Country Chart this week.

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 25th of February to the 3rd of March, 2022.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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