The first new studio album in over six years for Slipknot becomes the bands second No.1 album here in Australia, as “5: The Gray Chapter” comes straight in at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart this week.
“5: The Gray Chapter” becomes the 718th No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2014) and the 569th for ARIA (1983 to 2014), plus also the 367th album to debut at No.1, whilst in a way its back-to-back No.1 albums for Slipknot, whose last studio album was September 2008’s “All Hope is Gone” (2 weeks), as in-between albums they have lost a few members, plus released a compilation album “Antennas to Hell” (HP-16, July 2012) and re-issued their second album “Iowa” (HP-54, Nov 2011).
This becomes the fifth album for the Roadrunner label to make it to No.1 here in Australia, the first being the previously mentioned Slipknot album ‘5 The Gray Chapter‘, the most recent being The Amity Affliction back in June, whilst its also the second No.1 album this year to feature ‘5’ in its title, as the self-titled 5 Seconds of Summer album went to the top in early July. It’s also the first time that the words ‘Gray’ (or even grey) and ‘Chapter’ have made it to No.1 spot, whilst the fourth time that a ‘5’ (or even ‘five’) has made it to the top, the other two being ‘Glee The Music Volume 5’ (March 2011) and ‘Odyssey No.5’ for Powderfinger (Sept 2000).
Ed Sheeran is back up a place to No.2 with “x” after falling from the top to No.3 last week, whilst last weeks top two debuts both fall back two places each, “Triple J’s Like a Version Vol.10” leaves the top after a single week (like Vol.9 did) to No.3 and “rose ave.” for You+Me is down to No.4 and newly certified Gold (●) in sales. Debuting at No.5 is the second album for 2012 The Voice winner Karise Eden entitled “Things I’ve Done”, which in effect is her debut studio album, as her previous entry was a compile of the songs she performed on the TV series, that set “The Journey” spent six weeks at No.1 from early July 2012.
The ‘Frozen’ Soundtrack drops back down two places to No.6 this week, and another reality-show singer with her second entry/first studio album is 2013 X-Factor winner Dami Im with “Heart Beats”, which comes in at No.7, whilst her show-compile self-titled album debuted and peaked at No.1 at the end of November 2013.
The fourth and final Top 10 debut this week is the 29th studio album for Neil Diamond entitled “Melody Road”, becoming his 23rd Top 10 album, as his last studio set “Dreams” made it to No.5 in early November of 2010, and see below for further Neil entries this week, whilst his former duet partner from November 1978 Barbra Streisand (on “You Don’t Bring Me Flower”, HP-4 peaked late Dec 1978) is down four places to No.9 this week with her current album “Partners”. And lastly dropping four places to No.10 is Sam Smith with “In the Lonely Hour” which is spending its sixteenth week within the Top 10.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: George Ezra’s singles boost also translates to the albums chart, as “Wanted on Voyage” is back up fifteen places this week to No.19 and Taylor Swift’s promo visitor (and XF appearance) helps her former set “Red” to leap back up fifty-seven places to No.42. “If You Wait” for London Grammar is back up twelve places to No.48 and with Neil Diamond doing promos for his new album (Jimmy Fallon and 60 Minutes) it helps his massive No.1 album from the 1970’s “Hot August Night” (HP-1×28, debuted Dec 1972) to re-enter at No.37, the album now certified 10x▲Platinum in sales.
DOWN DOWN: Current tourists The Hilltop Hoods drop down two places to No.12 with “Walking Under Stars” (HP-1×2, WI10-8), whilst Missy Higgins drops down seven to No.15 with “Oz” (HP-3, WI10-4) and Lady Antebellum also fall seven to No.16 with “747” (HP-4, WI10-2), whilst the final dropout from last weeks Top 10 are U2 with “Songs of Innocence” (HP-7, WI10-1), which is down fifteen places to No.22 this week. Alt-J plus Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga both drop twelve to No.24 and No.25 with ”This is All Yours” and “Cheek to Cheek” respectively and down nine to No.28 is the self-titled album for 5SOS. Vance Joy drops ten places to No.33 with “Dream Your Life Away” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack is also down ten to No.36. Leonard Cohen falls sixteen to No.38 with “Popular Problems” and the Angus & Julia Stone self-titled set is down eleven to No.39, whilst “Burnt Letters” for Taylor Henderson plummets twenty-four to No.41. Down sixteen to No.46 is Slash with “World on Fire” and dropping eighteen to No.49 are The Preatures with “Blue Planet Eyes”. Falling out of the Top 50 are Guns N’ Roses (39 to 52), Chris Brown (37 to 53), Chet Faker (41 to 54), Coldplay (46 to 55), Royal Blood (47 to 56), Jessie J (14 to 57), The Amity Affliction (43 to 59), Childish Gambino (32 to 60), Kasey Chambers (49 to 68), Nico & Vinz (44 to 73) and Hozier (20 to 89), whilst leaving the Top 100 all together from last week fifty are Yellowcard (#21), New Found Glory (#33), The Delta Riggs (#38), Lucinda Williams (#45) and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” (#48).
Ella Henderson saw her debut album “Chapter One” enters at No.1 in the UK this past week, here it comes in first week at No.11. Local singer Ricki-Lee sees her fourth album “Dance in the Rain” debut at No.14 this week, becoming her second highest charting album, as her third set “Fear & Freedom” debuted and peaked at No.7 in late August 2012, with all four of her albums now claiming Top 40 peaks.
The fifth studio album for Melbourne blues singer C.W. Stoneking entitled “Gon’ Boogaloo” debuts at No.17 this week, becoming his second ARIA Albums chart entry, as his fourth album from this week in 2008 (27th Oct) “Jungle Blues” debuted and peaked at No.45. Making their first appearance on the ARIA Albums chart are US country duo Florida Georgia Line with their second album entitled “Anything Goes”, which is new at No.20 this week.
US rapper The Game scores his sixth chart entry with his sixth studio album this week entitled “Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf”, which comes in at No.27, whilst a few places lower at No.29 are Melbourne folk group Husky with their second album “Ruckers”, which surpasses their first albums’ peak “Forever So”, which made it to No.33 this week in 2011 (31-Oct). And back in March religious group Planetshakers debut at No.30 with their album “Endless Praise”, and this week they enter at No.30 again with “This is Our Time (Live)”, becoming their second chart entry.
With Neil Diamond landing a Top 10 debut this week, plus a return at No.37 for “Hot August Night”, he also enters with two compilations, firstly at No.47 is “The Best of” (which is already certified Gold (●) in sales), and then further down he also debuts with another collection “All Time Greatest Hits” at No.65, giving him four albums within the Top 100 this week. The final entry to the fifty is new at No.50, The Church with their eighteen studio album “Further Deeper”, which is the first new entry since they made it to No.68 in September 1998 with their tenth album “Hologram of Baal”.
Lower 50: The Rolling Stones kick off their national tour in Adelaide this weekend, and their compilation “GRRR!” is back up twenty places to No.63 this week and rising back up nine to No.66 are ABBA with “18 Hits”. Pharrell and his “G I R L” are back up twenty seven places to No.69 and Kingswood jump back up twenty-one spots to No.76 with their “Microscopic Wars” album. Returning albums this week comes from Flume (#67), the about to be released DVD/BR ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ Soundtrack (#70), Ball Park Music’s “Puddinghead” (#78), “Cinematic” for Illy (#91), recent visitor here Olly Murs with his previous album “Right Place Right Time” (#93), Taylor Swift with “Fearless” (#94), “21” by Adele (#99) and Linkin Park with “Hybrid Theory” (#100).
The compilation/best of album for Ozzy Osbourne entitled “Memoirs of a Madman” comes in at No.51, whilst fifth studio album for US rockers Cold War Kids called “Hold My Hand” is new at No.61. US rapper Logic sees his debut album “Under Pressure” come in at No.79, whilst Billy Idol’s eighth studio album “Kings & Queens of the Underground” enters at No.81, and it is his first ARIA Albums chart entry since his fifth album “Cyberpunk” made it to No.12 in August 1993.
US act Mark Lanegan Band see their ninth studio album entitled “Phantom Radio” debut at No.83 this week, becoming their second chart entry in Australia, as their seventh set “Blues Funeral” made it to No.71 in February 2012. British act Itch sees his debut album “The Deep End” enter at No.92 and lastly coming in at No.97 are US X-Factor winners (third season) Alex & Sierra with their debut album “It’s About Us”.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
