Not since the first chart of the year (7-Jan-13) has an album climbed back to the top of the charts, as this week Harrison Craig reclaims the ARIA Albums crown for a second week with his collection of ‘The Voice’ performances (and a few new songs) on “More Than a Dream”.
This in turn breaks the string of fifteen consecutive No.1 album debuts that started with Foals and “Holy Fire” back on the 18th of February, the longest consecutive run of No.1 debuts in Australian chart history, as the previous record was eleven No.1 chart debuts in 2009. So losing the No.1 spot and falling down to No.3 are Bliss N’ Eso with “Circus in the Sky”, but they should be happy that the album has been certified Gold (●).
Debuting at No.2 (and only released on Tuesday) is Jay-Z with his twelfth studio album “Magna Carta… Holy Grail” which features guest acts such as Justin Timberlake, Rick Ross, Frank Ocean and his wife Beyonce. Lead single “Holy Grail” debuts at No. 54 this week, and this becomes his second No.2 album (“Watch the Throne” was the other in August 2011) and his fourth Top 10 hit, as he previously charted with “MTV Ultimate Mash-Up” (HP-8 peaked Jan 2005) with Linkin Park and “The Blueprint 3” (HP-9, Sept 2009).
As I mentioned at the top of this article about the last album to return to the No.1, well that album is sitting at No.4 this week, “The Truth About Love” for P!nk, which is joined right behind at No.5 by her “Greatest Hits… So Far” which hasn’t been seen inside the Top 10 since the end of March in 2011 and it returns due to her current national tour. In fact she has four albums within the Top 100 this week with “Funhouse” leaping back up fifty-one places to No.28 and returning at No.59 is “I’m Not Dead”.
Last weeks No.3 debut for Hillsong Live of “Glorious Ruins” is down three places to No.6 this week, and after leaping back to No.5 last week, “A” for Agnetha Faltzskog is also down three places to No.8, whilst “The Great Country Songbook” for Troy Cassar-Daly and Adam Harvey is down to No.9 this week, with Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” holding at No.10.
Debuting at No.7 with his fourth album this week is Josh Pyke and his new set entitled “The Beginning and the End of Everything” whilst instantly becomes his fourth Top 10 entry and Top 10 debut. His has previously only peaked inside the Top 5 with “Memories & Dust” (HP-4, March 2007), “Chimney’s Afire” (HP-3, Oct 2008) and “Only Sparrows” (HP-4, Aug 2011), all of which debuted and peaked in their first week on the ARIA Albums chart.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: “Home” for Rudimental is back up five places to No.12 and jumping up fourteen places to a new peak of No.17 is Fleetwood Mac with “25 Years – The Chain”. The ‘Mac are due to tour here in November, and they have four albums within the Top 100 this week, all climbing. The late 80’s compilation “Greatest Hits” (HP-3) jumps back up twenty-two places to No.50, “Rumours” holds at No.70, and their 2002 set “The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac” (HP-16) returns at No.90 to continue it’s legacy of being the longest charting album in ARIA Albums chart history, currently at 315 weeks. “Babel” for Mumford & Sons is back up ten places to No.37 and Lee Kernaghan’s “Beautiful Noise” is now certified Gold (●) and back up to No.38 whilst Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience (Part 1)” is back up twenty-three places to No.41, and “18 Hits” for ABBA is back up eleven spots to No.45.
DOWN DOWN: All of the Top 10 dropouts this week are leaving said ten for the first time, as Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” is down four places to No.11 after seven weeks inside, “The Great Gatsby” Soundtrack falls five places to No.13 after eight weeks and Kanye West with “Yeezus” is down five spots to No.14 after three weeks inside the Top 10. “…Like Clockwork” for Queens of the Stone Age is down eight places to No.26, but Ricky Martin’s “Greatest Hits” drops twelve places to No.34 (his tour here is in October so it shouldn’t be back up until late September probably). “Not Art” for Big Scary drops nineteen places to No.41 and Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die” is back down thirty-one places to No.65. “The Very Best of” for INXS also drops thirty-one spots to No.75 and “#1’s” for Michael Jackson is down forty-one places to No.84. After returning at No.41 last week, Major Lazer is down forty-seven spots to No.88 with “Free the Universe” and leaving the Top 100 from last weeks top fifty are Dream on Dreamer with “Loveless” (from #29), “Sex Games” for Diviney (from #45) and “Gargantua” for Ash Grunwald (from #46).
A collection of tracks for Judith Durham entitled “The Platinum Collection” debuts at No.36 this week, her fourth album charts appearance, and coming in at No.42 are Sydney band Glass Towers with their debut album “Halcyon Days”, and a few places lower is a fourth Top 50 Australian entry, the third album for Melbourne act Whitley entitled “Even the Stars are a Mess”, their only previous entry being their second album “Go Forth, Go Mammoth” which debuted and peaked at No.27 in November of 2009.
Lower 50: Bastille continues to climb ever so slightly with their “Bad Blood” album, as it’s up to a new peak of No.62 this week, the it’s the only new chart height in the lower fifty this week. And apart from the Pink and ‘Mac returns, also re-entering the charts are Chat Faker with “Thinking in Textures” (he was on Rockwiz last week) at No.77, “Spring & Fall” for Paul Kelly (he was on Adam Hills Tonight on Wednesday) at No.79, “Fearless” for Taylor Swift at No.92, “The Very Very Best of” for Crowded House at No.97 and “Healing Stone: The Best of” by Yothu Yindi at No.99.
New entries in the lower fifty include the third album for US post-hardcore band LetLive with “The Blackest Beautiful” at No.66, their first entry here in Australia, and The Editors debut at No.76 with “The Weight of Your Love”, their fourth album and third to chart here, as they have previously charted with “An End has a Start” (HP-37, July 2007) and “In This Light and On This Evening” (HP-40, Oct 2009).
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
