The fifth studio album for local rapper Illy (Alasdair Murray) entitled “Two Degrees” becomes his first ever ARIA Albums Chart No.1, plus only his second Top 10 entry.
“Two Degrees” becomes the 788th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2016) and the 639th for ARIA (1983 to 2016), plus the 434th to debut at the top of the Australian Albums Chart, plus the first for his own record label ONETWO, whilst it is also the 39th No.1 Album for 2016 (“Purpose” by Justin Bieber was at No.1 this time last year, the 31st for 2015).
Illy first hit the Top 10 with his fourth studio album “Cinematic” (HP-4) this very week back in 2013 (18th Nov) which stayed within the ten for a single week, and with his recent first Top 10 hit “Papercuts” (HP-2, peaked early August, newly 3x▲Platinum TW-30) and his current Top 20 entry “Catch 22” (TW-12) both featured on his new set it now becomes his first No.1 album in Australia. This is the second No.1 album with the word ‘Degrees’ in the title, the other being the 18 week running “Silk Degrees” by Boz Scaggs (from 13th June, 1977) and the fifth with a ‘Two (or 2)’ in it title, all the other have been by Australian acts too, John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John (Two Strong Hearts, July 2015), Sneaky Sound System (2, August 2008), Cat Empire (Two Shoes, April 2005) and the first was for Jimmy Barnes (Two Fires, September 1990).
For the 20th time this year, an Australian album has claimed the No.1 spot in the country and this new one by Illy becomes the 209th by an Australian Act (solo, duo or group) to claim a No.1 berth, plus the album also becomes the 219th by a Solo Male Artist (local or overseas) to hit the top spot, plus the sixth for 2016 by an Aussie Male Solo act, beating the 2013 total or five. Illy becomes the 27th Australian Solo Male artist to land a No.1 album (since Billy Field was the first in 1981), and overall he is the 105th Australian Act to land a chart-topping album in his home country.
Last Friday (after the chart week sales period ended) we heard the news that Leonard Cohen had passed away at the age of 82, and this week his most recent studio album “You Want it Darker” rebounds eighteen places to land a new peak of No.2, becoming his equal highest charting album, matching the peak that his 2012 set “Old Ideas” achieved on debut in mid-February, plus a new compilation in “The Essential” collection is new at No.12, and overall he has five albums within the Top 100 this week. And by this album returning to the Top 10 for a third overall week, this NOW becomes his longest running Top 10 album in Australia, beating the two weeks from “Old Ideas” achieved back in 2012.
Re-teaming for this weeks No.3 debut are John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John with a seasonal album entitled “Friends for Christmas” (debuting on Gold (●) in sales too), which becomes the pairs third collaboration after last years “Two Strong Hearts” spent three weeks at No.1 (July 2015) and prior to that was “The Main Event” (also with Anthony Warlow) which spent two weeks at the top in December of 1998, so two records will be broken if this set climbs to the top, firstly it’ll be the only pair of singers to land three No.1 albums in Australia, and it will become only the second seasonal set to claim that position too. This is also the second festive season album for John (first was ‘Christmas is’ released in Dec 1970, but it didn’t chart), and the fourth for Olivia, with her last such album “This Christmas” a teaming with John Travolta, hitting No.33 in mid-December of 2012, whilst her first two did not chart here (2000 & 2007).
Right after that entry we have the only festive season album that has managed to hit the No.1 spot in Australia, “Christmas” by Michael Buble which climbs up four places this week to No.4 heading for a fifth potential No.1 berth here (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014). Dropping three places to No.5 this week is the TV Soundtrack to the Jessica Mauboy series “The Secret Daughter”, and Jess this week at the age of 27 is the youngest person within the Top 10 (second is Illy at 30)
Two weeks ago the new collection for Phil Collins entitled “The Singles” snuck into the chart at #100 for a single week before falling out last week, with sales so far being digital only, and then last Friday the physical album was issued, plus with a big interview on Channel 7 last Sunday night, his new hits compilation returns to the chart at No.6, becoming his ninth Top 10 album in Australia and his second of his three best of’s to grab a Top 10 berth, as his first “Hits” climbed to No.2 in the first week of November in 1998.
Down one spot to No.7 is the Elvis Presley set “The Wonder of You” with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and last weeks No.1 debut for Bon Jovi in “This House is Not for Sale” is down seven this week to No.8, whilst another of last weeks new entry at No.4 was the new Robbie Williams set “The Heavy Entertainment Show” which falls six this week to No.10. In between those albums is the fourth and final Top 10 debut this week at No.9 for Sting entitled “57th & 9th”, and it’s his twelfth studio album and now his sixth solo Top 10 album, and his first for this century here, as his last Top 10 entry was with “Ten Summoner’s Tales” (also HP-9) back in late March of 1993, whilst his last album to land at this upper end of the chart being 2003’s “Sacred Love” (HP-13, late Sept 2003).
UP:
* Adele this past week announced a tour of Australia early next year, and a fourth single to be issued from her current set “25”, which all helps it to rebound eleven places this week to No.17, exactly one year since it first entered the charts at No.1, whilst her second set “21” returns to the Top 100 at No.56 this week.
* With their tour here just a few weeks away, the newly repackaged Coldplay album “A Head Full of Dreams” for Coldplay is back up four to No.25, and they were on Graham Norton here on Friday night (18th Nov), which could boost it again for next week ahead of their early December tour.
* Rebounding seventeen spots to No.31 is “A Pentatonix Christmas” (HP-16), whilst the first of many upcoming returning seasonal sets sees The Ten Tenors set “Our Christmas Wish” (HP-16) return to the chart at No.35, whilst the about to be re-issued (next week 25th Nov as ‘The Snow Queen’ edition) “Kylie Christmas” returns at No.86.
* Further returning albums this week are “Hotel California” for The Eagles at No.51, the EP for Tash Sultana “Notion” at No.63, RHCP’s “Californication” at No.80, and recent visitors this past week in Little Mix and “Get Weird” at No.83 ahead of their new album debuting next week.
DOWN:
* Michael Buble’s latest album “Nobody But Me” (HP-2, WI10-3) drops down six this week to No.11 and is newly certified Gold (●) in sales, whilst he still has a set staying within the ten too.
* “Ripcord” for Keith Urban (HP-1×2, WI10-18) is down only four to No.14 but should remain in this chart region with his upcoming tour here.
* Triple J’s Like a Version Vol.12 (HP-1×1, WI10-5) drops out of the Top 10, down seven to No.16.
* Birds of Tokyo tumble down thirteen places to No.19 with “Braces” (HP-3, WI10-1).
* “Don’t Look Down” for Pez (HP-7, WI10-1) suffers a massive fifty-one place drop this week, way down to No.58.
* “Wings of the Wild” by Delta Goodrem is down eleven this week to No.27 now that her national tour is over.
* After four weeks on the chart, the latest Lady Gaga album “Joanne” is down sixteen to No.29.
* Shawn Mendes loses chart lighting, as his “Illuminate” album drops eleven to No.30
* “WALLS” by Kings of Leon drops seven places this week to No.34.
* James Arthur might be No.1 on the singles chart for a sixth week, but his album drops hard again this week, “Back from the Edge” is down fifteen spots to No.36.
* After a slight rebound last week the Hillsong Worship album “Let There Be Light” this weeks plummets twenty-six spots to No.37.
* “Two Vines” by Empire of the Sun is down ten places to No.41 this week.
* Drake is down twelve to No.45 with his “Views” album.
* Alicia Keys’ sixth album “Here” debuted at No.14 last week, but this week is down a massive thirty-five spots to a lowly No.49.
* Harrison Craig gets to only spend a single week within the Top 50 (so far) as his third set “Kings of Vegas” is down seventeen places to No.53, and also down seventeen to No.54 is the Play School album “50 Best Songs”.
* Third week slump for the new Avenged Sevenfold album “The Stage”, which this week dives down thirty-three to land at No.59, followed by Korn and “The Serenity of Suffering” which is down twenty-eight to No.60.
* Bruce Springsteen is down twenty to No.67 with “Chapter & Verse”.
* After debuting at No.15 last week, local act Client Liaison tumble fifty-five spots to No.70 with their first entry “Diplomatic Immunity”.
* Beyonce drops twenty-eight to No.78 with her “Lemonade” and dropping thirty-three spots to No.89 is Norah Jones with “Day Breaks”.
* Leaving the Top 100 from last weeks Top 50 is the Australian Cast Recording for “Dream Lover – The Bobby Darin Musical” (#38), whilst those seven Crowded House re-entries from last week are all out of the Top 100 this week, with notably “Woodface” (#45) and “Crowded House” (#46) leaving from last weeks fifty.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #12 (GH#6) “The Essential” – Leonard Cohen (2x▲Platinum) is new at No.12 and becomes the third best of to chart here for the man who passed away last Friday the 11th of November, and follows on from “The Essential 3.0” (HP-9, peaked Feb 2009) and also at the same time was his “Greatest Hits” set (HP-92, Feb 2009). He is also back in the charts with other titles this week too, “Live in London” (HP-26, April 2009) is back in at No.56 and newly certified Gold (●) in sales, followed at No.72 by his previous studio album “Popular Problems” (HP-6, Oct 2014) and finally his debut album “Songs of Leonard Cohen” from 1968 makes it first ever chart appearance (ARIA or others) at No.81, having been certified ▲Platinum for quite some time.
* #13 (LP#6) “We Got it from Here… Thanks You 4 Your Service” – A Tribe Called Quest is the bands sixth and final studio album since one of the main members in Phife Dawg passed away in March of this year, and this is their first new group recording since 1998, plus of their six studio albums since 1990 this is their very first chart entry on the ARIA Albums Chart.
* #15 (LP#43) “Just… Fabulous Rock ‘N’ Roll” – Cliff Richard became his 44th Top 10 album in the UK this week, and here its becomes his 28th Albums chart entry (16 studio, 1 soundtrack, 2 Live and 9 Best of’s) since his first back in 1965 (Wonderful Life soundtrack, HP-5), with his last entry here being “The Fabulous Rock ‘N’ Roll Songbook” (HP-7, entered late Nov 2013 and then it peaked in May 2014 when he toured here).
* #20 (LP#2) “Long Live the Angels” – Emeli Sande saw her second album debut at No.2 in the UK this week, and here it instantly becomes her second Top 20 set, as her first album “Our Version of Events” originally entered our chart in February of 2012, and would climb to No.17 in late January of 2013, eventually racking up 56 weeks from five different chart runs.
* #24 (LP#10) “Let Love Rule” – Archie Roach sees his tenth studio album become not only his second Top 50 album, but this is his highest charting album in Australia, beating the No.49 peak that his ninth set in late October 2012 “Into the Bloodstream” achieved.
* #38 (LP#12) “Battles” – In Flames land their third Top 50 and Top 100 here entry this week, landing five places lower than their eleventh set “Siren Charms” (HP-33) did in mid-September of 2014.
* #39 (GH#45) “Bowie Legacy” – David Bowie is a three disc set covering all of David’s chart and career highlights, and joins his other current charting compilation “Nothing Has Changed”, which is sitting at No.61.
* #42 (LP#5) “24hrs” – Olly Murs became his fourth straight No.1 album in the UK this week, and here it becomes his third entry, all of which have landed within the Top 50 first week, and this new set has only seen the No.77 since “You Don’t Know Love” chart so far.
* #47 (GH#10) “The Early Years 1967-1972: Cre/ation” – Pink Floyd is a multi CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and Vinyl collection of their studio and other works during their first six years of recording, and for such a massive collection it does well to enter at No.47 this week, becoming their sixth compilation album to chart here in Australia.
* #73 (LP#8) “The Fall of a Rebel Angel” – Enigma, who first hit our charts back in 1990 return with their eighth vocal-infused album, and first new entry since “LSD: Greatest Hits” (HP-49) from late November 2001, and this becomes their sixth entry here (five studios and one best of).
* #77 (LP#1) “Around Me” – Luella is a singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee in the USA and this is her first album, thus her first chart entry too.
