Australian Album Chart: Coldplay Is No 1

The ninth studio album for Coldplay called “Music of the Spheres” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart this week, becoming the British acts’ seventh No.1 Album in Australia.

“Music of the Spheres” (Parlophone) becomes the 928th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2021), the 778th for ARIA (1983 to 2021), the 28th No.1 for this year, the 564th to debut at No.1, plus the 21st for the record label Parlophone, with seven of the nine No.1’s during this century for that label being produced by Coldplay (Kylie and Gorillaz were the two others).

Just over 19 years ago Coldplay scored their first No.1 Album here with their second album “A Rush of Blood to the Head” (1 week on Sept. 2nd, 2002), following that up with further No.1’s in “X & Y” (LP#3, 1 week on June 13th, 2005), “Viva la Vida” (LP#4, 4 weeks from June 23rd, 2008), “Mylo Xyloto” (LP#5, 1 week on Oct. 28th, 2011 {ten years ago this week}), “Ghost Stories” (LP#6, 3 weeks from May 26th, 2014), and their last was with “Everyday Life” (LP#8, 1 week on Dec. 2nd, 2019). And with this week’s new No.1 album for the act, they have now amassed twelve weeks (from 7 #1’s) at the top of the Aussie Album Charts, moving them up to 54th (from equal 58th) on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2021), just ahead of Bruce Springsteen (12 weeks from 5 #1’s), Billy Joel and Pink Floyd (both 12 weeks from 4 #1’s).

Plus with the band landing their seventh No.1 Album, Coldplay have now risen to equal sixth on the list for ‘Most No.1 Albums (1965 to 2021)’ to sit alongside Rod Stewart, Elton John (could that change next week?), The Twelfth Man, Metallica and Kylie Minogue (those last two gained their seventh #1’s in 2020). For the album’s title, this is the twelfth time that the word ‘Music’ has appeared in an album title, the last being Eminem’s “Music to Be Murdered by” (1 week on 27th of Jan., 2020), while for the middle of the title (of the), this is now the 16th such appearance, while it’s the first time for the word ‘Spheres’.

Overall this new entry for Coldplay is now their ninth Top 10 placement (actually 9th Top 2 LP) and overall this is their fourteenth Top 100 Albums Chart entry (9 studios, 2 Live, 2 EP’s, 1 Comp/box set). For British acts, this new No.1 becomes the 164th (solo male or female, duo or group) and the fourth for this year after Architects, Dua Lipa (both in March) and London Grammar (late April), while for groups (local or overseas), this is the 407th chart-topping set (and the eighth for 2021). For British Groups (only), Coldplay are now the only act during this century to have spent the most time at No.1 locally, as their twelve weeks is the leader, with One Direction coming in second at nine overall weeks at the top.
Here are the British Groups with the most weeks at No.1:
126 – The Beatles
53 – Dire Straits
25 – The Rolling Stones
19 – Electric Light Orchestra
18 – Slade
12 – Coldplay
12 – Pink Floyd
11 – Jethro Tull
9 – One Direction

Speaking of The Beatles, their last studio album “Let it Be” has been given the ’50th Anniversary’ treatment, expanded with out-takes and different versions of the original album’s 1970 release. The redone set returns to the chart at No.2 this week, with the album last charting in November of 2003 at No.11 when it was reissued as a stripped back version called “Let it Be… Naked”. The album first spent four weeks at No.1 from June 15th, 1970, and the new ‘super deluxe’ edition of the album is the No.2 Vinyl and No.1 physical selling album for this week too. The No.1 vinyl album is another returning former chart-topping set, Kylie Minogue’s eighth studio album “Fever” (5 broken weeks at No.1 from October 15th, 2001), which comes back in at No.6 this week to log a 36th overall week within the Top 10, thanks to a limited edition white vinyl for it’s 20th anniversary being issued.

The debut album for local indigenous artist Baker Boy called “Gela” makes it’s first appearance on the chart this week at No.3, becoming his first chart appearance ever on the ARIA Charts (either singles or albums), with this set having seven previous issued singles, including his team-ups with G-Flip, JessB and Uncle Jack Charles, which is his latest single called “Survive”.

Doja Cat dips one place to No.4 with her “Planet Her” set, while it regains a third non-consecutive week at the top in New Zealand this week, while last week’s returned No.1 set for Olivia Rodrigo and “SOUR” falls four places to No.5, the sets lowest placement ever during its 22 week chart run. Dropping five places to No.7 is the Drake album “Certified Lover Boy”, which regained a fourth week at No.1 in The U.S.A. this past week, and holds for a sixth week in his native Canada.

With a new Adele single called “Easy on Me” debuting at the top of the singles chart this week, her three former albums all fly back into the Top 50 this week, with her last set “25” jumping up ten spots to land at No.8 (72nd Top 10 week), with the album last appearing in the Top 10 back at the end of May in 2017. Adele is followed by Billie Eilish with “Happier Than Ever” and “Justice” for Justin Bieber, both of which fall four places this week to land at No.9 and No.10 respectively.

UP:
TOP 20: Adele’s next zoom comes from her second album “21”, which leaps up thirteen spots to No.11, with this set last being this high up the charts back in April of 2017, and this is the only rising album within the Top 20 this week…
TOP 30: … while there are no climbers within this chart region.
TOP 40: Queen’s biopic soundtrack ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ rebounds four places to No.31, and their 1981 collection “Greatest Hits” returns to the Top 100 at No.39 this week, with Taylor Swift seeing two rising albums within the Top 40, a small one place climb to No.33 for “Lover”, while her redone “Fearless (Taylor’s version)” leaps back up twenty places to land at No.37.
TOP 50: Adele’s debut album “19” lands back within the Top 100 this week at No.41, the album last charting within the Top 50 at this very same position back in mid-April of 2017, while a vinyl re-issue of the third Spiderbait album from 1996 “Ivy and the Big Apples” sees its return to the chart at No.47, originally the set debuted and peaked at No.3 on October 21st, 1996, and it’s placed at No.5 on the vinyl sales chart, while the third climbing Taylor album this week is “Reputation”, back up four spots to land at No.50.

DOWN:
TOP 20: Three of the five Top 10 dropouts this week land within the Top 20 this week, with all of them former No.1 sets, first up is a five place slide to No.12 for the debut Lil’ Nas X set “Montero” (HP-1×1, WI10-4), followed by “Future Nostalgia” for Dua Lipa (HP-1×2, WI10-51a) down five to No.13 and Kid Laroi and his mixtapes “F**k Love” (HP-1×1, WI10-45a) are also down five, landing at No.15. Five of the six falling Top 20 albums all decline five places this week, with the last two being “The Highlights” for The Weeknd to No.17 and “Fine Line” for Harry Styles to No.18, while there’s an eight place slump to No.19 for Kanye West’s “Donda” album.
TOP 30: Elton John’s “Diamonds” drops back down seven spots to No.21, while his new album of duets should chart next week, Ed Sheeran and his “÷ (Divide)” album drop six places to No.22, with two Taylor albums dropping in “1989” (22 to No.28) and “folklore” (25 to No.29).
TOP 40: Luke Combs’ first set “This One’s for You” falls nine spots to No.32, with further falling T40 sets being “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” by Pop Smoke (32 to No.36), the Lewis Capaldi debut album (31 to No.38) and Guy Sebastian with “T.R.U.T.H.”, which falls twelve places to land at No.40.
TOP 50: The sixth and final Top 50 appearance this week for Taylor Swift is her “evermore” album, dropping ten places to No.46, while there are five place drops for Dua Lipa’s self-titled album to No.43, “The Very Best” for INXS to No.44 and “Dangerous: The Double Album” for Morgan Wallen to No.49. Two of last week’s Top 10 debut entries leave the entire chart this week, The Hard-Ons with “I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken” from #4 and Trivium with “In the Court of the Dragon” from No.9.

FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #14 (Live#1) – Live from a Beach House in the Rain by Wil Wagner (Pool House Records) is the first live album from The Smith Street Band lead singer, and it also becomes his third solo chart entry after September 2020’s “Spiralling” (HP-9) and his first entry “I Hope I Don’t Come Across Intense” (LP#3, HP-49, May 2020).

* #16 (mixt#11) – Faces (mixtape) by Mac Miller (Warner Music) is a 2014 mixtape issued by the slain rapper, and it has been reissued on digital platforms and vinyl last week, with the set landing at No.4 on the vinyl sales chart this week. Overall this is now his sixth albums chart entry here, made up of 1 box set (Swimming in Circles), four studio albums and now one mixtape.

* #20 (LP#3) – Vengeance by Twelve Foot Ninja (Volkanik/MGM) is the third album and second chart entry for the Melbourne heavy-metal act, who first charted with their second release “Outlier”, which made it to No.6 upon entry in early September of 2016.

* #26 (LP#2) – Punk by Young Thug (300 Ent./Atlantic) is the second album for the American rapper, and of his now four chart entries, this is his highest placed, with his debut set “So Much Fun” (Sept. 2019) landing ten places lower at No.36, plus he has also charted with Chris Brown on “Slime & B” (HP-29, May 2020) and with Future on “Super Slimey” (HP-35, late Oct. 2017).

* #34 (LP#1) – Jack Chrome & The Darkness Waltz by The Morris Springfield Project (Ambition/Sony) is a collaboration between Russell Morris and Rick Springfield, with the pair having known each other since the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Rick played guitar on Russell’s debut album “Bloodstone” from 1971, while more recently he also performed on his 2014 set “Van Diemen’s Land”.

* #35 (LP#6) – Welcome to Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2 by Ice Nine Kills (Fearless/Concord) is the sixth studio album for the American heavy metal band, and their first ever to chart in Australia, plus it’s also the follow-up to their October 2018 album “The Silver Scream”, which became their first high placed U.S. Album at No.29, this new set has made it to No.18 in their homeland.

* #42 (LP#7) – The Comeback by Zac Brown Band (Home Grown Music/Warner Nashville) is now the sixth albums chart entry here for the American group (five studios and one compilation) with this album now being his lowest placed Top 50 entry, landing lower than his first entry “Uncaged” (HP-38, late July, 2012), while his “Greatest Hits So Far” has been his lowest ever charted making it to No.67 in 2014.

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 15th to 21st of October, 2021.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

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