Australian Charts: Olivia Rodrigo 'Sour' Debuts At No 1

The debut studio album for American singer and actress Olivia Rodrigo called “SOUR” scores her not only her first No.1 Album, but she occupies the top of both ARIA charts this week with her song “Good 4 U”.

“SOUR” (Geffen) becomes the 917th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2021), the 767th for ARIA (1983 to 2021), the 17th No.1 for 2021, the 553rd to debut at the top and for her record label it becomes their ninth No.1 Album and first for almost 18-and-a-half-years, with their last being Nirvana’s self-titled Best of (Nov. 4th, 2002, 1 week).

With Olivia holding the top of both charts, this is the 136th time that this chart feat has occurred, with it’s also the 18th time that a debut album and one of it’s singles has held the top of both charts, with Billie Eilish being the last such act to achieve this, for two weeks from April 8th, 2019. Plus for her record label Geffen this is the fourth time that they have held the top of both charts, John Lennon in Jan./Feb. 1981, Cher in Nov. 1989 and Aerosmith in Feb. 1990. Olivia’s album and single also hold the top spot in England, Ireland and New Zealand this week.

This is the first time that the word ‘SOUR’ has appeared in a No.1 Album title, with the only other Top 50 ‘sour’ entry being a late Feb. 2012 entry by Band of Skulls called “Sweet Sour” (HP-35). Olivia’s new album also becomes the 323rd No.1 by an America Act (solo, duo, group, male or female) and the fourth for 2021, the 143rd by a Solo Female Artist (local or overseas) and the sixth for this year. She also becomes the 160th American Act to hit No.1 in Australia and the 38th Solo American Female Artist to make it to the top of our album charts.

Another unique chart feat that occurs this week is the succession of Female No.1 Artists, as two weeks ago Amy Shark was at No.1, while Delta Goodrem was last weeks chart-topping female act, and now this week Olivia Rodrigo takes over the femme-mantel. I can only find one kind of instance where this occurred in the past, in 1996. March 24th, 1996, Celine Dion’s “Falling into You” debuted at No.1, and then the next week Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” regained a third week at No.1, holding for six weeks until May 5th, 1996. On the 12th of May female-led band The Cranberries debuted at No.1 with “To the Faithful Departed”, staying for a single week before Alanis reclaimed the top spot for a ninth week. Otherwise I couldn’t find another instance where three female solo artists went back-to-back-to-back at No.1 in Australia (let me know if you do).

A former No.1 holder in Pink sees her first ever live album “All I Know So Far: Setlist” debut at No.2 this week, becoming her ninth Top 10 Album in Australia (7 studios, 1 Best of, 1 Live). The album has 15 live tracks (and one speech), of which she covers tracks by Cyndi Lauper and Queen. This is followed at No.3 by the sixth studio album for American rock band twenty one pilots called “Scaled and Icy”, which is now their third Top 10 album in Australia, and their first new entry since their fifth album “Trench” debuted and peaked at No.1 on Oct. 15th, 2018.

The fourth of five new Top 10 entries this week comes in at No.4, the new seven track EP for local rock band Powderfinger called “One Night Lonely”. The set is this weeks No.1 vinyl album and it was issued as a limited vinyl release last week as a one-year anniversary of the band’s initial performance of the music as a fund raiser for Beyond Blue and also raising money for Support Act. Coming in at No.6 is the reissued 1991 second studio album for Irish-English rock band My Bloody Valentine called “Loveless”, which by coming in at No.6 gives the album it’s first ever Top 10 appearance in Australia, as the album didn’t chart when originally released thirty years ago, plus the band’s first studio album “Isn’t Anything” also makes its first chart entry at No.45 this week, all thanks to first time re-issues last week.

The five remaining albums from last weeks Top 10 are J. Cole with “The Off-Season”, down only two places to No.5, with that album taking out the top spot in both America and Canada this past week. Also down two spots is Justin Bieber with “Justice”, to No.7, with a one place step down to No.8 for Dua Lipa and “Future Nostalgia”. Last weeks No.1 album for Delta Goodrem and “Bridge Over Troubled Dreams” falls eight places this week to land at No.9, with the preceding No.1 album by Amy Shark and “Cry Forever” taking a four place decline to land at No.10 this week.

UP:
TOP 20: The only two climbing albums within the Top 20 are back up two places each this week, Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” and Maroon 5’s “Singles Collection” to No.18 and No.20 respectively.
TOP 30: With the news this past week of ‘Hamilton’ opening in Melbourne in 2022, the cast recording album has flown back up sixteen places this week to No.21, while the only climbing Taylor Swift album for this week being her oldest entry “1989”, which is back up six spots to No.30, with the final rising album in this chart region being the Queen biopic soundtrack ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, back up four to No.29.
TOP 40: After falling ten places last week to No.34, the Morgan Wallen album “Dangerous” is back up three spots this week to No.31, followed by small rises for Spacey Jane (35 to No.34) and Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding” (40 to No.38), while the XXXTentacion “?” set is back up five to No.39.
TOP 50: Five rising albums, but all of them small amounts, as Dua Lipa (43 to No.41), “Love Goes” by Sam Smith (47 to No.43), “Hot Pink” by Doja Cat (46 to No.44), “God’s Favourite Band” by Green Day (51 to No.48) and “The Goat” by Polo G (52 to No.50) all move back up the chart.

DOWN:
TOP 20: Two of the five albums leaving the Top 10 this week land in the Top 20, The Weeknd with “The Highlights” (HP-2, WI10-14) is down one spot to No.11, only its second week outside of the Top 10, while scoring only its fourth week out of the Top 10 in its 75 week chart run is Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” (HP-1×3, WI10-71), which is down three spots to No.12.
TOP 30: Last weeks No.2 entry for You Am I and “The Lives of Others” (HP-2, WI10-1) plummets twenty spots this week to land at No.22, while the first of three major drops for Taylor Swift sees her “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” album fall seven placess this week to No.28.
TOP 40: The fourth Top 10 dropout is The Black Keys set “Delta Kream” (HP-8, WI10-1) which falls down twenty-four spots to land at No.32. “Positions” by Ariana Grande drops four places to No.35, “folklore” by Taylor Swift declines nine spots to No.36 and is newly ▲Platinum in sales, and the DJ Khaled album “Khaled, Khaled” is this week down twelve places to No.40.
TOP 50: The INXS “Very Best of” is back down four spots to No.42, the final new entry from last week to land a second week within the Top 50 is Alan Jackson with “Where Have You Gone”, which drops down thirty-two places to No.46, while the third Taylor album to drop is “evemore”, down eight places to No.47, and it scores a Gold (●) in sales, and lastly falling twenty-three spots to No.49 is the recent No.4 album by Rag’N’Bone Man and “Life by Misadventure”. The fifth album to leave last week’s Top 10 was the King Gizzard album “L.W.” which was at No.4 last week, while also leaving the Top 50 are new entries last week by St. Vincent (#15), Jason Owens (#17) and Babe Rainbow (#18).

FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #16 (LP#2) – I’m a Stupid Moron with a Ugly Face and a Big Butt and My Butt Smells and I Like to Kiss My Own Butt by Dr. Colossus (Dr. Colossus) is the second album from Melbourne doom-rock duo, who use references from The Simpsons in much of their work, with this album title coming from one of the many prank calls Bart Simpson plays on bartender Moe at his tavern. The band’s first album was 2017’s “The Dank”, while next month they are due to tour locally in support of this new album.

* #23 (V/A) – Eurovision Song Contest: Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2021 by Various Artists (Universal Denmark) is the companion album to last weekend’s 2021 Eurovision competition which was won this year by Italian rock band Maneskin and their track “Zitti e buoni” (Quiet & Behave), with this new album making it ten successive years that the competitions compilations have charted locally.

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 21st to the 27th of May, 2021.