It was either going to be Kanye West or Empire of the Sun to take out the No.1 spot in Australia this week, but they land at No.2 and No.3 respectively, as local country artists Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey have teamed up and their collection “The Great Country Songbook” takes the new No.1 spot on the ARIA Albums chart this week.
UPDATE: Troy Cassar-Daley & Adam Harvey stripped of number one album
“The Great Country Songbook” is the first country album to top the ARIA charts since “Red” by Taylor Swift (Oct 2012) and the last by a country duo was Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson’s “Rattlin’ Bones” (April 2008). The album becomes the 674th No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2013) and the 533rd for ARIA (1983 to 2013), whilst it’s also the 328th set to debut at No.1, and the thirteenth consecutive No.1 debut since February.
It’s the first No.1 albums for both Troy and Adam, whose previous highest efforts were “Home” (HP-9, March 2012) for Troy Cassar-Daly and “Falling into Place” (HP-10, July 2011) for Adam, which were both their last chart entries and first Top 10 placements, making this new album both their second Top 10 album and first No.1.
The word ‘Great’ has appeared in many albums under the ‘Greatest’ heading, but only one has come close to being just ‘great’ in the past, Creedence Clearwater Revival in February 1980 with “20 Golden Greats”, whilst there have been no previous albums with the word ‘Country’ or ‘Songbook’ before, the closest being Ian Moss’ “Matchbook” from August 1989. The guys become the 84th Australian act to top our charts with the 160th Australian Performed No.1 album.
Kanye West lands at No.2 for a third time with his sixth studio album “Yeezus”, and it also becomes his fifth Top 10 album. His third album “Graduation” (Sept 2007) debuted and peaked at No.2, and then his collaboration with Jay-Z “Watch the Throne” climbed to No.2 in August 2011. Kanye’s two other Top 10 albums were “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (HP-6, Nov 2010) and his compilation “G.O.O.D. Music Cruel Summer” (HP-7, Sept 2012).
Local act Empire of the Sun see their second album “Ice on the Dune” debut at No.3, becoming their higher charting album, as their debut set “Walking on a Dream” eventually climbed to No.6 in February 2009, and that album is back in at No.75 this week, and the lead single from their new album “Alive” jumps up seventeen places to No.22 this week.
Last weeks top three all fall three places this week, with former No.1 “Departures” for Bernard Fanning down to No.4, “The Great Gatsby” Soundtrack to No.5 and Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” to No.6. Bruno Mars’ “Unorthodox Jukebox” is down two places to No.7, whilst Passenger is down a place to No.8 with “All the Little Lights”, which is now Platinum (▲) in sales. John Fogerty lasts for a third week inside the Top 10 with “Wrote a Song for Everyone” down a place to No.9 and Queens of the Stone Age fall four places to No.10 with “…Like Clockwork”.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Pink holds for a third week at No.12 with “The Truth About Love” ahead of her tour starting soon, the album now re-certified 7x▲. OneRepublic return to the Top 100 at No.14 with “Native” (former HP-25, May 2013) helped by their new single landing inside the Top 20, and the self-titled former No.1 for Paramore is back up thirteen places to No.23, with Lee Kernaghan and “Beautiful Noise” back up nine spots to No.24. Russell Morris is back up seventeen places to No.28 with “Sharkmouth” and Lady Antebellum turn around and move back up seventeen places also, up to No.34 with “Golden”.
DOWN DOWN: “13” for Black Sabbath drops seven places to No.11 after one week inside the Top 10 at No.4, and also spending a single week inside the ten was the ‘Fast & Furious 6’ soundtrack, down nine places to No.19 this week. The other Top 10 drop-out is “Settle” by Disclosure, tumbling eighteen spots to No.27. City & Colour halve their position by dropping thirteen places to No.26 with “The Hurry & The Harm”, The Cat Empire fall nine places to No.32 with “Steal the Light” and The National see their “Trouble Will Find Me” is down twenty-one places to No.46. Big drops occur for “The Very Very Best of Crowded House” (#39 to #84), “Tomorrow’s Harvest” by Boards of Canada (#24 to #88), “Keep Moving” by Andrew Stockdale (#32 to #89) and falling out of the Top 100 from last weeks No.26 debut are Jimmy Eat World and “Damage”.
Iceland’s Sigur Ros see their seventh album “Kveikur” (Candlewick) enter at No.17 this week, becoming their second highest charting album in Australia, as they’ve landed to No.14 albums in the past, “Meo Suo I Eyrum Vio Spilum Endalaust” (With a Buzz in our Ears we Play Endlessly) (July 2008) and their last entry “Valtari” (Roller) (June 2012). This also becomes their seventh chart entry here, with five studio albums (#3 through to #7) a Greatest Hits and Live album also charting here.
South Sydney rapper Rates sees his debut album “Destroy & Rebuild” enter at No.38 and right behind at No.39 are The Lonely Island with their third album “The Wack Album”, with their previous two entries being “Incredibad” (HP-45, April 2009) and “Turtleneck & Chain” (HP-15, May 2011).
Lower 50: The second album for US rapper Mac Miller becomes his first to chart here in Australia, as he enters at No.54 with “Watching Movies with the Sound off”. Also making their first chart appearance is Irish band Kodaline with their debut album “In a Perfect World”, which enters at No.67. Local Melbourne group Midnight Juggernauts see their third album “Uncanny Valley” debut at No.78, with their first two albums both landing much higher; “Dystopia” (HP-21, Aug 2007) and “The Crystal Axis” (HP-20, June 2010). Other than the Empire of the Sun first album re-entering, other returning albums this week include Delta Goodrem with “Child of the Universe” at No.92, Rihanna and “Unapologetic” at No.97 and Jason Owen with “Life is a Highway” at No.98.
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
Watch Troy Cassar-Daly perform at Noise11
