Australian Charts: London Grammar 'Californian Soil' Is No 1

UK group London Grammar land their first ever No.1 album in Australia this week as their third studio album “Californian Soil” debuts at the top here and in their homeland.

“Californian Soil” by London Grammar (M.O.S.) becomes the 914th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2021), the 764th for ARIA (1983 to 2021), the 550th to debut at No.1, the 14th chart-topping album for 2021 and the first national No.1 ever for the record label Ministry of Sound (as they’ve had several albums go to the top of both the Compilations and Dance Album charts).

Within No.1 Album titles, this is the first time that the word ‘Soil’ has appeared at the top of the Album charts, while for ‘Californian’ it’s also the first, but the word ‘California’ has been at No.1 on three previous occasions, “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (2 weeks, 14th of June, 1999 and 7th of February, 2000), “Greetings from California” by The Madden Brothers (1 week on 22nd of Sept., 2014) and the first was “Hotel California” by The Eagles (12 weeks from January 17th, 1977).

As London Grammar are an act from England, this new No.1 album makes it the 163rd by an English Act to hit the top in Australia (third for 2021 after Architects and Dua Lipa, both in March), while London Grammar themselves become the 74th English Act (solo, duo or group) to hit the top, and the 40th English Group, plus they’re also the 405th No.1 Album by a Group (local or overseas). Of the groups three albums to chart here, this is their first No.1 album, and third Top 3 placement after “If You Wait” (LP#1, HP-2, Sept 2013) and then “Truth is a Beautiful Thing” (LP#2, HP-3, June 2017).

Coming in at No.2 is the tenth studio album for American rock group The Offspring called “Let the Bad Times Roll”. It’s their first new material in almost nine years, having last charted with “Days Go By” (LP#9, HP-7, July 2012), and this new entry also becomes their tenth albums chart entry (9 studios and 1 Best of), the groups eighth Top 10 album and third No.2 placed album after their “Greatest Hits” (2005) and “Ixnay on the Hombre” (LP#4, 1997), while either side of that album they had two No.1 sets in “Smash” (LP#3, #1 for 3 weeks from January 30th, 1995) and “Americana” (LP#5, #1 for 5 weeks from 4th of January, 1999).

Last week’s No.1 album for Taylor Swift and “Fearless (Taylor’s version)” is down two places to No.3 this week, while the set debuted at the top in both America and Canada this past week, and with a No.19 peak last week for the albums singles chart entry “Mr. Perfectly Fine”, this seems to have now become the first ever No.1 Album in Australia for Taylor to NOT produce a Top 10 singles chart entry. There are seven current or former No.1 albums within the Top 10 this week, as the recent chart-topper for Justin Bieber “Justice” is down two places to No.4 (it returns for a third week at No.1 in N.Z. this week), followed by the second Dua Lipa album “Future Nostalgia” dipping one spot to No.5.

The third and final Top 10 debut this week is new at No.6, the live album for Canadian artist Alex Henry Foster called “Standing Under Bright Lights”, a live recording of tracks from his debut album “Windows in the Sky” (2018) with an eleven piece band, plus one other song, all recorded in 2019. This is followed by the first of seven semi-consecutive albums on hold this week, as apart from the No.12 debut, the sets between No.7 and No.14 are all stable this week. Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” is at No.7, The Weeknd’s best of “The Highlights” remains at No.8, The Kid Laroi is at No.9 followed by Pop Smoke’s “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” sits at No.10.

UP:
TOP 20: The only two rising albums within the Top 20 this week are “What You See is What You Get” for Luke Combs (17 to No.15) and a six place climb to No.18 for Taylor Swift’s “1989” album, giving her three albums within the twenty, apart from her No.3 set, she is also at No.19 with her “folklore” album.
TOP 30: Lewis Capaldi rings up his 100th Top 100 (99th Top 50) week with his debut album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” by rising back up two spots to No.26. Three weeks ago the INXS “Very Best of” was at No.27, then last week it fell to No.41, this week it’s back within the Top 30 by rising twelve places to land at No.29.
TOP 40: Two soundtrack/cast recordings climbing within the Top 40 are ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen (37 to No.34) and the ‘Hamilton’ set (39 to No.36), while moving back up five places each are Sam Smith with “Love Goes” (40 to No.35) and the self-titled Dua Lipa album (44 to No.39).
TOP 50: With a climbing new single at the moment, the older Doja Cat album “Hot Pink” is back up five places to No.41, and the Green Day best of “Greatest Hits: God’s Favourite Band” jumps back up nine spots to No.44.

DOWN:
TOP 20: The latest Ariana Grande album “Positions” (HP-2×2, WI10-9a) flew back into the Top 5 last week thanks to it’s vinyl sales, but this week the set is back down eleven places to No.16. Collections for Elton John (15 to No.17) and Maroon 5 (19 to No.20) both decline, while there’s a three place slide to No.19 for Taylor Swift’s “folklore” set.
TOP 30: While Taylor also drops ten places to No.22 with her “evermore” album, the only other major drop within the Top 30 is a four place move to No.25 for Juice WRLD and “Legends Never Die”.
TOP 40: Another vinyl surged album from last week which declines this week is the self-titled debut album for Harry Styles, down eleven places this week to No.31, followed by a six place slip to No.32 by The Wiggles and their “We’re All Fruit Salad: Greatest Hits” collection. The second of three Top 10 dropouts is the No.6 entry last week for Brockhampton with “Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine”, which plummets thirty places to land at No.36, while also dropping are “AM” by The Arctic Monkeys (30 to No.38) and “Lover” for Taylor Swift (34 to No.40).
TOP 50: Spacey Jane tumble ten spots to No.43 with “Sunlight”, Lil’ Tjay’s “Destined 2 Win” falls fifteen places to No.46 and the third Top 10 departure is last weeks No.3 entry for Richard Clapton and “Music is Love (1966-1970)”, declining a massive forty-six spots to land down at No.49.

FURTHER NEW TOP 50 ENTRIES:
* #12 (LP#2) – Flu Game by AJ Tracey (Revenge Records) is the second studio album and first chart entry here for the British rapper, with this album coming in at No.2 behind London Grammar in England this week, with his self-titled debut album making it to No.3 in England in February of 2019 (it didn’t chart here). His only other previous chart entries locally were a guest rapper on the Aitch single “Rain” (HP-61, June 2020) and on the Headie One single “Ain’t it Different” (HP-16, Oct 2020).

* #28 (LP#15) – Violence Unimagined by Cannibal Corpse (Metal Blade) is the American five-piece death metal bands fifteenth studio album, but only their first to chart in Australia. It’s also their first new material in three-and-a-half years, issuing their last album “Red Before Black” in November of 2017.

* #42 (LP#2) – The Battle at Garden’s Gate by Greta Van Fleet (Lava Music/Republic) is the second album for the American band, plus their second to chart in Australia, as their first set “Anthem of the Peaceful Army” made it to No.10 upon entry in late October of 2018.

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 16th to the 22nd of April, 2021.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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