The sixth studio album for Anthony Callea entitled “ARIA Number One Hits in Symphony” is now his third No.1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, which means he has had the most #1 albums by any of the Idol contestants and winners.
“ARIA No.1 Hits in Symphony” becomes the 808th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2017) and the 659th for ARIA (1983 to 2017), plus the 452nd to debut in the No.1 spot and the 23rd for the Sony (Australia) label and their first this year (the last was the Farnham & ON-J Xmas #1 in Dec 2016). Anthony first hit No.1 in Australia with his self-titled debut album for three weeks in April of 2005, and this time last year he went to No.1 with “Backbone” (1 week on 26th Sept, 2016), which means that he has now had two weeks at No.1 during this decade, putting him equal 26th on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums; 2010’s’ alongside fourteen other acts including Madonna, Sia, 5SOS, Boy & Bear, Flume, Jimmy Barnes, Barbra Streisand, Nick Cave, Lorde and a couple of weeks ago QOTSA. Plus Anthony is now equal 112th on the list for ‘Accumualted Weeks at No.1: Albums 1965 to 2017’ alongside other acts who have racked up five weeks at the top here like Cold Chisel (four albums), Nirvana and Black Eyed Peas (also 3 #1’s), Michael Bolton, Def Leppard, Diesel, Green Day, Jack Johnson, Shannon Noll and Cliff Richard (all two #1 LP’s).
This is the first ARIA No.1 album with the word ‘ARIA’ in its title, and the third with ‘Number’ (both The Beatles and Culture Club in 1983), the 27th with ‘Hits’ (mostly all of them ‘Greatest Hits’ sets), and the first with the word ‘Symphony’. This new No.1 is the 17th album for the year (we had hit 32 #1’s at this time last year), and now the eighth for an Australian Artist. Anthony’s new No.1 also becomes the 218th by an Australian Artist (solo, duo or group) to hit the top and the 224th by a Solo Male Artist (local or overseas).
Anthony has now had as many #1 albums as Pete Murray and Keith Urban, and the most by an Idol contestant, here’s a list of the Most #1 LP’s by Australian Male Artists:
11 – Jimmy Barnes
10 – John Farnham
7 – The Twelfth Man
3 – Pete Murray, Keith Urban and Anthony Callea
2 – Diesel, Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll, Bernard Fanning, Damien Leith, Flume, Taylor Henderson.
And when you factor in both female artists and groups here’s how that list looks too:
11 – Jimmy Barnes
10 – John Farnham
7 – The Twelfth Man
5 – Olivia Newton-John, AC/DC, Silverchair, Powderfinger, Kasey Chambers, Hilltop Hoods
4 – Cold Chisel, INXS, Midnight Oil, Human Nature, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Hillsong
3 – Bee Gees, You Am I, John Butler Trio, Pete Murray, Missy Higgins, Anthony Callea, Bliss N’ Eso, Keith Urban, The Amity Affliction.
I don’t usually speak about things other than the charts, but this week something occurred which is rare in itself, and as a gay man I want to report on it. Both artists whom debut in the No.1 spots this week are out gay-men, with Sam Smith scoring his first #1 single here and Anthony Callea coming in at the top over here on the albums chart. I had to look back quite a way to find the last gay artist(s) who topped both charts (plus were out at the time), and we have to go back to the 24th of October in 1983 when Culture Club topped the charts with “Karma Chameleon” and its parent album “Colour by Numbers” for six weeks up until mid-November of 1983. Although there are NOW out artists who have done it since in George Michael in May of 1996 (before he officially came out) with “Fastlove” and its parent set “Older” (26th May) and then almost a year later (and this is the last time it occurred), Savage Garden were at the top for eight weeks with “Truly, Madly, Deeply” and their self-titled studio album from the 6th of April in 1997, Darren Hayes (lead singer) not coming out for until the early 2000’s.
The new No.1 album in England this week is the new No.2 album here, the seventh studio album for US indie-rock group The National entitled “Sleep Well Beast”, becoming the groups third chart entry and second successive No.2 album, as their last set “Trouble Will Find Me” debuted and peaked at No.2 in late May of 2013, whilst they first hit our charts in May 2010 with their fifth album “High Violet” (HP-29, peaked Jan 2011). And also debuting with his seventh studio album at No.3 is Jack Johnson and “All the Light About it Too”, the album cover featuring Jack surrounded by plastic he found on his local Hawaiian beach. This becomes his seventh Top 3/Top 10 album in Australia and his first since his sixth set “From Here to Now to You” which also debuted at No.3 in late September of 2013.
After returning for a 20th broken week at No.1 for Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” album, this week it falls again from the top spot, to now its lowest chart position during its 28 weeks on the chart, down three to No.4 this week. And also falling from his high perch after four weeks is Paul Kelly’s “Life is Fine”, down three to No.5, both sets helped last week by late-week Fathers Day sales. The fourth and final Top 10 debut is the third album for US country artist Kip Moore entitled “Slowheart”, which becomes his first Top 10 berth in Australia and also his second albums chart entry, having first charted with his second album “Wild Ones” (HP-31) in late August of 2015. The remainder of the Top 10 features the soundtracks for “Moana” (stable at No.7) and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2” (down five places to No.9 and newly Gold (●) in sales), and two rock albums in “Villains” for Queens of the Stone Age, down five to No.8 and “Go Farther in Lightness” by Gang of Youths, dropping four places to land at No.10.
UP:
* Khalid continues his gradual climb up the charts with his “American Teen” set, this week it’s up two places to a new peak of No.15.
* Lana Del Rey jumps back up nineteen places to No.19 with “Lust for Life”.
* Drake’s late-last-week announcement about his upcoming tour here this week helps his albums to climb back up, with “More Life” up eight to No.28 and “Views” leaping thirty-two spots to No.49.
* Post Malone climbs three places to land his “Stoney” album at a new peak of No.42.
* Tina Arena has been doing shows around the country recently, and that helps her recent collection “Greatest Hits & Interpretations” (HP-2) to re-enter at No.48.
* The new singles chart entry for Halsey helps her to rise a little, with “hopeless kingdom fountain” back up six places to No.57.
* The self-titled album for Dua Lipa is also up six spots to No.60, helped by her highest charted single occuring with “New Rules”.
* The Play School collection “50 Best Songs” jumps back up twenty-three places to No.63.
* Further returning albums this week are from Amy Shark (#71), Logic (#90), The Weeknd’s “Beauty” (#91), Charlie Puth (#93), Rihanna (#97), Dean Lewis (#99) and Elton John’s “Rocket Man: Definitive Hits” (#100).
* Two animated film soundtracks rising lower down are from “Sing” (96 to 76) and “Frozen” (98 to 89).
* James Blunt’s tour announcement helps his returning “The Afterlover” album to rise this week seventeen places to land at No.82.
DOWN:
* There are four albums leaving the Top 10 this week, firstly is the first volume of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” (HP-2, WI10-12a) soundtracks, down two spots to No.11, followed by the No.1 album from this week in 2014 (15th Sept) with the debut set for Vance Joy and “Dream Your Life Away” (HP-1×1, WI10-3a), dropping nine to No.17. Then two of last weeks debuting albums drop down, The Script and “Freedom Child” (HP-5, WI10-1) drops twenty-four spots to No.29 and the new US and Canadian No.1 album for LCD Soundsystem and “American Dream” (HP-10, WI10-1) falls twenty-one places to land at No.31.
* There has just been a new Carole King DVD released on Friday, and her 1971 breakout album “Tapestry” is back down nineteen places to No.32 this week.
* Kesha has an eleven place drop to No.34 with her “Rainbow” set.
* The Weeknd sees a twelve place drop to No.36 with “Starboy”.
* The War on Drugs crumble twenty-two places to No.37 with “A Deeper Understanding”.
* The digital only released Neil Finn album “Out of Silence” should rise back up next week as the physical CD was issued on Friday, which is why this week the set is down thirty-four spots to No.46, whilst the Crowded House “The Very Very Best of” is back down twenty-four spots to No.70.
* Katy Perry is down eighteen places to No.47 with her “Witness” set.
* Nickelback see a twenty-seven place drop to No.53 with “Feed the Machine”.
* Vera Blue and her “Perennial” is down twenty-one spots this week to No.55.
* The Soundtrack for “Baby Driver” plummets twenty-eight spots to No.58.
* Rag’N’Bone Man sees a sixteen place slide for his “Human” album to No.65.
* Whilst London Grammar have a fourteen place drop to No.66 with “Truth is a Beautiful Thing”.
* The Lil’ Uzi Vert album “Luv is Rage 2” falls back down twenty-nine spots to No.72.
* Linkin Park are stable at No.75 with “Hybrid Theory”, whilst their recent studio album “One More Light” drops down eighteen places to No.77.
* The Roy Orbison “Ultimate Collection” is down thirteen places to No.80, the Guns N’ Roses “Greatest Hits” also falls thirteen spots to No.86, and the Glen Campbell “Collection” drops thirty places to No.94.
* Albums leaving the Top 100 from last weeks Top 50 go to Dixie Chicks (#20), Dan Sultan (#37), King Social (#40) and Jake Bugg (#44).
FURTHER NEW RELEASES:
* #12 (LP#2) – Broken Machine by Nothing But Thieves is the second album for the Essex, UK based indie-rock band, whose first self-titled album debuted and peaked at No.27 in late October of 2015.
* #13 (LP#3) – A Moment Apart by Odesza is also the second albums chart entry for the Seattle, US duo, having first charted with their second album three years ago entitled “In Return” (HP-58, 15th Sept, 2014)
* #16 (LP#1) – Happy Hour by Catsplay is the debut album for Robyn Payne and Andrew Hagger under the name Catsplay, the pair performing Jazz music and having played in Melbourne this past week.
* #22 (LP#38) – Hitchhiker by Neil Young was first recorded between 1975 and 1977 with Neil’s long time collaborator producer David Briggs on the night of full moons at the Indigo Ranch recording studio in Malibu, California.
* #26 (LP#10) – Will to Power by Arch Enemy becomes the Swedish melodic-death metal acts third Top 100 and now first Top 50 entry here in Australia, having previously charted with “Rise of the Tyrant” (LP#7, HP-73, Oct 2007) and “War Eternal” (LP#9, HP-52, June 2014).
* #30 (LP#3) – Life Changes by Thomas Rhett also becomes the first Top 50 album for the US country artist, who first charted with his second album here “Tangled Up” (HP-77, Sept 2015).
* #62 (S/tk) – Twin Peaks Season 3 TV Soundtrack is the music from the 25 year-after follow-up to the 1991 break out murder-mystery TV series by David Lynch, with the music from the original No.1 soundtrack (1 week on 7th April, 1991) by Angelo Badalamenti re-used for some of this new series.
* #73 (LP#3) – Current Mood by Dustin Lynch is the first of the US country artists album’s to chart here in Australia, with his two previous albums coming out in 2012 and 2014.
* #95 (LP#1) – All the Earth by The Belonging Co. is the debut album from the ten piece church group from Nashville, Tennessee, with the group having started out in 2014.
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
