Local singer/songwriter Vance Joy (real name James Keogh) takes his debut album “Dream Your Life Away” straight into the No.1 position on the ARIA Albums Chart this week.
“Dream Your Life Away’ becomes the 714th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2014) and the 565th for ARIA (1983 to 2014), whilst also the 363rd album to debut at No.1. It’s the eleventh chart-topping album for an Australian act this year and the first time ever that the Liberation label have landed back-to-back No.1’s, as Vance Joy and last weeks chart-topping album for Jimmy Barnes are both on the label, with Vance’s ascent becoming the labels seventh No.1 album in Australia overall.
It’s the eleventh album with the word ‘Dream’ in its title to reach No.1 here and the seventh with ‘Life’, whilst only the third with ‘Away’ in its title, the other two being ‘Come Away with Me’ by Norah Jones (Feb 2003) and ‘Push the Sky Away’ for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Feb 2013). The album becomes the 178th Album to reach No.1 for an Australian act, and the 200th Album by a Male Artist, plus Vance Joy become the 93rd Australian Act to reach No.1 and 23rd Australian Solo Male Artist to do so.
Last weeks No.1 debut of “30:30 Hindsight” for Jimmy Barnes is down one place to No.2 and thanks to her promo tour around the country this past week, Ariana Grande jumps back up five places to No.3 with the No.1 album from three weeks ago “My Everything”, whilst the chart-topping set from four weeks ago, The Hilltop Hoods with “Walking Under Stars” is down a place to No.4.
Paloma Faith holds at No.5 this week with “A Perfect Contradiction” and swapping places at No.6 and No.7 are Sam Smith with “In the Lonely Hour” (7 to 6) and the “Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol.1” Soundtrack (6 to 7) respectively. The other high-end debut from last week, “Bittersweet” by local artist Kasey Chambers drops six places to No.8 and holding at No.9 is Ed Sheeran with “x”. The second Top 10 debut this week comes in at No.10, the self-titled fourteenth studio album for Ryan Adams, which instantly becomes his first ever Top 10 album in Australia. His previous best was his last studio album which initially reached No.25 upon release in October 2011, but it returned to the charts in March 2012 spending two weeks at a new peak of No.16.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: George Ezra’s boost on the singles chart with “Budapest” (TW-6) helps his album “Wanted on Voyage” back up eight places to No.20, whilst the recent tour of Queen and Adam Lambert helps their just returned set “The Platinum Collection” back up four places to No.28. The Black Keys are touring here in April 2015, and the tickets on sale have boosted their former No.1 album “Turn Blue” back up fifty-six places to No.30 this week, and currently touring here at the moment is Kanye West, so his former No.1 set “Yeezus” is back in at No.31. The same occurs for Tina Arena, who is touring the country at the moment, and her former No.4 album “Reset” is back in at No.41.
DOWN DOWN: The two albums leaving the Top 10 this week are the self-titled former No.1 for Angus & Julia Stone, which drops four to No.14 after spending five weeks within the ten, and after debuting at No.4 last week, “V” for Maroon 5 drops fifteen places to No.19. John Williamson drops eight places to No.21 with “Honest People” and the self-titled album for Royal Blood drops ten to No.25, with INXS’ “The Very Best” also down ten to No.26. The Amity Affliction tour is now headed to America, so last weeks jump after their tour here for their latest set “Let the Ocean Take Me” is back down fifteen places to No.34 and Adam Harvey sees his “Family Life” fall fifteen also to No.36. Sia is down eleven to No.37 with “1000 Forms of Fear” and Rodriguez drops again, down nineteen this week to No.39. Gabrielle Aplin tumbles seventeen to No.40 with “English Rain” and Broods see their debut album “Evergreen” tumble nineteen places to No.46. Last weeks No.14 debut for Brad Paisley, “Moonshine in the Trunk” plummets thirty-three spots to No.47 and Lana Del Rey sees her “Ultraviolence” drop down eighteen to No.49. Dropping out from last weeks Top 50 are Adam Brand (42 to 55), Milky Chance (35 to 56), The Angels (47 to 63), The McClymonts (50 to 65), Hillsong (48 to 67), Beyonce (46 to 69), Opeth (41 to 70), Linkin Park (43 to 75), Avenged Sevenfold (34 to 79) and Phil Rudd (22 to 89), whilst falling out all together from last weeks Top 50 are Dead Letter Circus with their “Stand Apart” EP (#24) and The Vines with “Wicked Nature” (#29).
There are five debuts within Top 20 this week, the first of which is Interpol with their fifth studio album entitled “El Pintor”, which enters at No.11 and becomes their second highest charting album here, their previous set “Interpol” debuted and peaked at No.7 in September 2010. New at No.13 is the second album for local country act The Wolfe Brothers, the set “Nothin’ But Trouble” becomes their highest chart accomplishment, beating the No.18 peak of their January 2013 album “It’s On”.
The fourth studio album for England act The Kooks entitled “Listen” comes in at No.15, becoming the bands third successive Top 20 album, as their two previous sets “Junk of the Heart” (HP-9, Sept 2011) and “Konk” (HP-8, April 2008) both debuted and peaked within the Top 10, Their first set “Inside In / Inside Out” originally charted here in July 2006 reaching No.87, and later returned in October 2008 where it re-peaked at No.84.
LA singer/songwriter Jillian Banks goes simply by the name BANKS, and her debut album “Goddess” comes in at No.17 this week, whilst the final Top 20 entry is in at No.18, The Tea Party with their first new album in ten years and their eighth album overall entitled “The Ocean at the End”. Back in early September 2004 they also debuted and peaked at No.18 with “Seven Circles”, plus this becomes their sixth Top 20 album in Australia.
The tenth studio album for Robert Plant is “Lullaby… and the Ceaseless Roar”, and it debuts at No.22 this week, becoming his twelfth solo album to chart here (nine studio and three collaboration albums), and is his first entry in four years, as he last charted in September 2010 with “Band of Joy” which debuted and peaked at No.18.
The Counting Crows see their seventh studio album “Somewhere under Wonderland” debut at No.27 this week, becoming their eighth album to chart here (six studio, one best and one live album), and they last charted with their fifth album “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings” (HP-22, April 2008). Swedish melodic metal band In Flames take their twelfth studio album “Siren Charms” into the charts at No.33, becoming their highest charting album in Australia, as they first charted with their eleventh set “Sounds of a Playground Fading” which debuted and peaked at No.50 in July 2011. And the final entry to the fifty is Justin Townes Earle with his sixth studio album “Single Mothers”, coming in at No.48, and also becoming his second to chart here, as he first charted in April 2012 with his fifth album “Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now” (HP-51).
Lower 50: Jack White leaps back up sixteen places to No.52 with “Lazaretto” and after leaving last week, Pink returns to the Top 100 at No.53 with “Greatest Hits… So Far”. Rodriguez drops down five places to No.54 this week with “Searching for Sugar Man”, which also picks up a Gold ● in sales, whilst the other newly certified (also Gold) album this week is Illy with “Cinematic” at No.62. Robbie Williams’ “Swings Both Ways” album is back up twenty-three places to No.60 and with his tour here starting next week, Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience – The Complete Experience” is back up ten places to No.78. Returning albums this week include “30 #1 Hits” for Elvis Presley at No.81, “Kick” for INXS at No.92, the just toured Bob Dylan with “The Essential” at No.96, and current tourist Kanye West with “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” at No.97, whilst the final returning album is “Atlas” by Rufus at No.100, whilst mention should also go to Avicii’s “True” album which leaves this weeks charts, having notched up 51 weeks within the Top 100 (almost a year!!).
Seattle electro duo ODESZA see their second album “In Return” become their first ARIA Albums chart entry this week, coming in at No.58. Another duo, this time from Canada and a punk group, but also their second album and first Australian charts appearance is Death From Above 1979 with “The Physical World” which is new at No.74 this week. And a third duo entering, this time local artists Client Liaison, whose debut self-titled EP comes in at No.76 helped by their current national tour.
Australian singer/songwriter Steve Smyth sees his second album entitled “Exits” enter at No.80 this week, whilst another local act in Thirsty Merc sees them debut at No.90 with “Acoustic Anniversary Album”, becoming their fourth charting album and first in over four years. The final entry is at No.99, “Live at the Rainbow” for recent tourists here Queen, the music was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London forty years ago in 1974.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
