The eighth studio album for The Foo Fighters “Sonic Highways” becomes their sixth No.1 (five studios and one best of) on the ARIA Albums Chart this week, plus the album debuts with a Gold (●) sales certification.
“Sonic Highways” becomes the 720th No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2014) and the 571st for ARIA (1983 to 2014), plus the 369th to debut at the top of the album charts, plus it’s not only the sixth No.1 album for the Foo Fighters, but also the sixth for their record label Roswell (through RCA), and all six No.1’s for the band have debuted at the top of the charts. Plus The Foo’s become only the third act to land six No.1’s the other two being The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson (there are only eleven acts who have achieved more than six).
It’s the first time that the both the words ‘Sonic’ and ‘Highway(s)’ have appeared in a No.1 album, with the previous highest charting ‘Sonic’ album being two which reached No.13, The Cult with “Sonic Temple” (May 1989) and The Sharp with “Sonic Tripod” (Sept 1994), whilst the highest previous ‘Highways’ was the Johnny Cash album “American V” A Hundred Highways” (July 2006) which climbed to No.25. “Sonic Highways” also becomes the 263rd No.1 album for an American act and the 336th chart-topping album for a group, the last one being Slipknot at the end of October.
After two weeks at the top, “1989” for Taylor Swift drops back down a place to No.2, and is sandwiched in between two debuts, as new at No.3 are Pink Floyd with “The Endless River”, the fifteenth and final studio album for the 1970’s prog-rock band. The album’s music was gleamed from the 1993 sessions for ‘The Division Bell’ and added to more recently, so the death of founder Richard Wright in September 2008 does mean that as they’re older recordings, he is still playing music on the album. This is the eleventh Top 10 album for the group, their last being the album that debuted this week in 2001 (19-Nov) the compilation “Echoes – The Best of” which debuted and peaked at No.4. “The Endless River” also becomes the bands highest charting album since “P.U.L.S.E.” debuted and peaked at No.1 for a week in late June 1995.
Ed Sheeran holds at No.4 for a third straight week with “x” (this is the albums seventh overall appearance at No.4), and after two weeks at No.2, Human Nature drop down three places to No.5 with their “Jukebox” covers album. The self-titled debut album for X-Factor 2014 winner Marlisa (Punzalan) comes in at No.6, the same place her albums lead single “Stand by You” is over on the singles chart. The ‘Frozen’ Soundtrack is down a couple of places to No.7 this week and holding at No.8 are current tourists The Hilltop Hoods with “Walking Under Stars”.
The fourth Top 10 entry of the week comes in at No.9, two local country female artists in Melinda Schneider and Beccy Cole who team up for the album “Great Women of Country”, similar to the Troy Cassar-Daly and Adam Harvey teaming on “The Great Country Songbook” and this becomes both acts’ first Top 10 album, as they have both previously peaked at No.24 with the albums “Melinda Does Doris” (Melinda Schneider, Aug 2010) and “Songs & Pictures” (Beccy Cole, Oct 2011). And landing their second Top 10 and now equal-peaking album by entering at No.10 this week are Machine Head with their eighth studio album “Bloodstones & Diamonds”, the same peak as October 2011’s “Unto the Locust”.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Katy Perry’s tour of Australia for the next three weeks helps her No.1 album from this time last year “Prism” to leap back up twenty-one places to No.11, whilst her previous album “Teenage Dream” is back up thirty-six places to No.38 this week. Coldplay blast back up fifty-two places to No.19 with “Ghost Stories” and now that their doco is screening and their 2015 tour announced, Spandau Ballet jump up thirty-seven places to a new peak of No.22 with “The Story: The Very Best of”, which is the bands first Top 50 placing since December 1991’s compilation “The Best of” climbed to No.41 in January 1992, and back up nineteen places to No.46 is multi-ARIA Award nominee Chet Faker with “Built on Glass”.
DOWN DOWN: The five albums leaving the Top 10 this week are “Like a Version Vol.10” (6 to 12, WI10-4), “Partners” for Barbra Streisand (9 to 14, WI10-7), “Motion” for Calvin Harris (3 to 15, WI10-1, which matches the single week his former album “18 Months” (TW-87) also achieved), “Down to Earth” for Flight Facilities (10 to 16, WI10-2) and Slipknot with “5: The Gray Chapter” (7 to 18, WI10-3). Neil Diamond is down five to No.17 with “Melody Road” and dropping eleven to No.24 are You+Me with “rose ave.” and Ed Sheeran’s “+’ is down seven to No.26. Susan Boyle loses “Hope”, down seventeen places to No.31, falling ten to No.32 are The Script with “No Sound without Silence”, whilst Karise Eden is down sixteen to No.33 with “Things I’ve Done”. Tony Bennet & Lady Gaga with “Cheek to Cheek” drop fourteen to No.34 and Jimmy Barnes’ “30:30 Hindsight” drops six to No.36 and is newly certified ▲Platinum in sales, whilst Annie Lennox tumbles twenty-one spots to No.37 with “Nostalgia”. Missy Higgins drops ten to No.39 with “Oz”, The Smith Street Band plummet twenty-six to No.44 with “Throw Me in the River” and the Human Nature “Christmas Album” is back down nine to No.48. Leaving from last weeks Top 50 are Dami Im (41 to 52), The Madden Brothers (26 to 53), Lady Antebellum (34 to 54), The Rolling Stones (40 to 55), Keith Urban (42 to 57), Michael Jackson (47 to 61), Lee Kernaghan (46 to 62), London Grammar (48 to 65), U2 (43 to 68), Yusuf (aka Cat Stevens) (24 to 76), “Led Zeppelin IV” (21 to 78) and leaving from last weeks fifty and out of the Top 100 this week is the self-titled album for Black Veil Brides (#23), Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” (#33), James Blunt (#36) and Hand of Mercy with “Resolve” (#45).
European based, but Australian formed techno act Knife Party see their debut album “Abandon Ship” come in at No.20, whilst a few places lower at No.23 are Royksopp with their fifth and final album “The Inevitable End” (although they will still be making music, just not as conventional as now). Back in June they teamed with Robyn for the No.14 EP “Do it Again”, this new entry becomes their second highest charting album now.
The third album for Damien Rice, and his first in eight years, comes in at No.25 entitled “My Favourite Faded Fantasy”, which instantly becomes his highest charting album here, as his first album “O” made it to No.67 in June 2005 and the following year “9” debuted and peaked at No.33. Bob Dylan sees the eleventh volume of his bootleg series “The Basement Tapes Raw: Volume 11” come in at No.29, with Volume 10 making it to No.20 last September.
Melbourne progressive-metal band Ne Obliviscaris (Latin for ‘Lest We Forget’), and their second album “Citadel” debuts at No.42 to become their first ARIA Albums chart entry, and another act making their first chart entry, but with their debut album, are US act Echosmith with “Talking Dreams” at No.45, which features the current No.10 single “Cool Kids”. The Voice 2014 contestant Matthew Garwood (he with an operatic voice and tattoos up his neck and arms) sees his debut album “The Tattooed Tenor” come in at No.47 and the final Top 50 entry is another debut album, new at No.49, Azealia Banks with “Broke with Expensive Taste”.
Lower 50: The Preatures’ “Blue Planet Eyes” is back up nine places to No.58 and Neil Finn & Paul Kelly’s album “Goin’ Your Way” is back up fifteen to No.73. Blink 182’s “Greatest Hits” is back up eight to No.86 and returning albums this week are The Amity Affliction with “Let the Ocean Take Me” (#84), “18 Months” for Calvin Harris (#87), the self-titled album for Royal Blood (#95), “Direct Hits” for The Killers (#96) and “Sigh No More” by Mumford & Sons (#98).
Dan Sultan debuts at No.66 with his new EP “Dirty Ground” which is the second entry for this year, as “Blackbird” made it to No.4 back in mid-April. The group The New Basement Tapes includes such members as Elvis Costello and Mumford & Sons lead singer Marcus Mumford, who have put music to 1967 Bob Dylan lyrics and their first album “Lost on the River” is new at No.69.
Further lower fifty entries come from local act King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard with “I’m in Your Mind Fuzz” at No.85, Andre Rieu with his new live album “Love in Venice” at No.88, another local act in Jack Ladder & the Dreamlanders with their first entry “Playmates” at No.91 and finally coming in at No.97 are the Zac Brown Band with “Greatest Hits So Far”, which is the US groups second entry as their fifth studio “Uncaged” (HP-38, July 2012).
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
