MKTO has topped the ARIA Australian album chart.
The duo of Malcolm Kelley (MK) and Tony Oller (TO) are known as MKTO, whose self-titled debut album enters at No.1 this week; becoming the first US duo in over 30 years to hit the top here.
“MKTO” becomes the 696th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2014) and the 555th No.1 album for ARIA (1983 to 2014), whilst it’s also the 348th album to enter at No.1 and also the 36th self-titled album to reach the top of the Australian Albums charts, with Beyonce being the last back at the start of the year. And with their having been four No.1 albums so far in 2014, it’s interesting to note that three of them (Beyonce, Springsteen and MKTO) are all on the Columbia/Sony label.
“MKTO” by MKTO is the 254th No.1 album by an American Act and they are the 139th American Act to hit the top of the Australian Album charts. In terms of duos, they are the eleventh such act to hit the top spot, the last being Angus & Julia Stone with “Down the Way” (March 2010), whilst MKTO are also only the third American duo to hit the top here, the first was Simon & Garfunkel (April 1970), whilst the last were The Carpenters (Feb 1983) with their compilation “The Very Best of”.
The second studio album for local act The Jezabels is entitled “The Brink” and it debuts at No.2 becoming their second No.2 album, as they debuted and peaked with “Prisoner” at the end of September in 2011. The group have been playing at the Laneway Festival around the country, as too has this weeks No.3 act Lorde with “Pure Heroine”, which picks up a 2x▲ Platinum in sales and is down a place this week, whilst also hitting 2x▲ Platinum are INXS with “The Very Best of”, which climbs to its highest ever position of No.4, all ahead of this weekends debut of the mini-series ‘INXS: Never Tear us Apart”, which could propel the album to the top of the charts next week, with biggest competition for that position coming from the new Neil Finn album “Dizzy Heights”.
The Disney soundtrack for “Frozen” holds at No.5 this week, whilst current tourist Bruce Springsteen is down three places to No.6 with “High Hopes”, but the album picks up Gold (●) in sales, whilst last weeks No.1 album “True” by Avicii falls down to No.7 this week. The self-titled album for Beyonce is down a place to No.8 and down three to No.9 is London Grammar with “If You Wait”. Dolly Parton achieves her first EVER Top 10 placing in Australia this week, as her 42nd studio album “Blue Smoke” debuts at No.10 ahead of her tour here (from Feb 11th), with her previous highest charting effort being “Trio” alongside Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris which reached No.12 in May 1987. Her last album to chart here was “Better Day” which reached No.29 when she toured in November 2011.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Rufus are up to No.16 this week with their “Atlas” album, which earns a Gold (●) sales certification, and Super Bowl half-time act Bruno Mars sees his album “Unorthodox Jukebox” jump back up seven places to No.18 (it went from No.18 to No.7 in the USA), whilst another Laneway Festival act sees their album jump up, HAIM with “Days are Gone” is up seven to No.19. Robbie Williams announced this week that he will be here from February 20th for a promo tour, thus his album “Swings Both Ways” is back up ten places to No.28. A Great Big World took the new No.1 singles position this week with “Say Something”, which helps their album “Is There Anybody Out There?” to jump up seventeen places to a new peak of No.33, whilst another Laneway act benefit with album sales, Chrvrches with “The Bones of What You Believe”, which is up twenty-seven places to No.36.
DOWN DOWN: After debuting at No.4 last week, “The Greatest Hits” for Australian Crawl falls seven places to No.11, whilst “AM” for The Arctic Monkeys drops back two spots to No.12 (and is now ▲ Platinum), with Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” down a place to No.13 and now re-certified 2x▲ Platinum ahead of his national tour in just over a week. “Flume” for Flume is back down nine spots to No.23 and the self-titled album for Taylor Henderson drops ten places to No.25. “Born to Die – Paradise Edition” for Lana Del Rey drops nine spots to No.31 and Of Mice & Men see their first Top 10 entry “Restoring Force” plummeting this week, down twenty-eight places to No.37. “25 Years – The Chain” for Fleetwood Mac is down eleven to No.39 and after their BDO shows, Arcade Fire see their “Reflektor” album fall down fifteen positions to No.44. The Twelfth Man falls twenty-one places to No.48 with his collection “Willy Nilly” and the self-titled album for Dami Im drops eighteen places to No.49. Big tumbles also come from “The Best of Cold Chisel” (35 to 61) and “The Great Country Songbook” (32 to 90), whilst dropping out from last weeks Top 50 is Jackie Onassis with their EP “Juliette” (#30) and the EP “Clear” for Periphery (#37).
The fourth album for UK band You Me at Six debuted at the top of their home countries chart this past week and here the album “Cavalier Youth” debuts at No.14, becoming their second album to chart in Australia, and now their highest charting, as they beat the No.28 peak of the their third studio album “Sinners Never Sleep” (Oct 2011). Also improving on their last chart entry is Dutch act Within Temptation, who debut at No.26 with their sixth studio album “Hydra”. Their fifth set “The Unforgiving” debuted and peaked at No.27 in April 2011, and their only other ARIA Albums chart entry was their fourth album “The Heart of Everything” (HP-88, March 2007).
New Zealand duo Broods see their six track self-titled EP debut at No.30 this week, whilst the lead single from the set “Bridges” (HP-57) returns at No.83. US singer, model and actress Sky Ferreira enters at No.40 with her debut album “Night Time, My Time”, and she has been announced as the support act for Miley Cyrus’ ‘Bangerz Tour’ in the USA.
Lower 50: The Super Bowl half-time show also helps Bruno Mars’ first album “Doo-Wops and Hooligans” back into the charts at No.66, whilst his onstage mash-up with the live guests Red Hot Chili Peppers helps their “Greatest Hits” set back up to No.59 this week. Major Lazer is back up ten places to No.62 with “Free the Universe” and “+” for Ed Sheeran rises back up eleven to No.65. A Day to Remember jump up thirty places to No.67 with “Common Courtesy” and returning albums this week includes “Trouble Will Find Me” by The National (#77), “Unapologetic” for Rihanna (#79), “Spreading Rumours” by GroupLove (#80), the self-titled album for The 1975 (#83), “The Great Gatsby” soundtrack (#87), the soundtrack to the documentary “Metallica: Through the Never” (#91), and “My Head is an Animal” by Of Monsters and Men at No.98.
The only new entry to the lower fifty is the debut album for local artist Michael Paynter entitled “Weary Stars”. Michael appeared on The Voice last season, and made it to the Top 16, plus he had a small chart career back in 2008 and a Top 20 hit in 2010 with “Love the Fall” (HP-19, peaked August 2010).
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
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