Scoring the first Australian performed No.1 Album of 2023 is Brisbane act Cub Sport with their fifth studio set.
“Jesus at the Gay Bar” (Cub Sport/Believe) becomes the 973rd No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2023), the 824th for ARIA (1983 to 2023), the 11th No.1 for 2023, the second for the record label ‘Believe’ (the other by Northlane “Obsidian” on May 2nd, 2022), plus the first No.1 Album for the Brisbane group and more so the first No.1 Album by a local act for this year, the last was Paul Kelly’s “Christmas Train” on December 12th, 2022.
Talk about timing for Cub Sport with the release of this album, it was issued the week of Easter (Jesus’ passing) and now ten days later it’s the No.1 Album during Greek Easter, well done to both Cub Sport and Jesus for that timing. ‘Jesus’ has been in a few previous No.1 Albums, but never at a ‘Gay Bar’ (neither word has appeared in a No.1 Album title before), with both the “Jesus Christ Superstar” 1992 Australian Cast recording (10 weeks from Aug. 2nd 1992) and Kanye West with “Jesus is King” (2 weeks from Nov. 4th, 2019) the two other times ‘Jesus’ has been seen at the albums chart pinnacle.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the first new No.1 for an Australian Act for 2023, and overall this new chart-topping set becomes the 279th by a local act to hit the top (solo male or female, duo or group), while it’s also the 424th by a Group (local or overseas) and only the second this year after Paramore (Feb. 20th.). Cub Sport also became the 133rd Australian Act to make it the No.1 Album spot, and they are also the 72nd Australian Group, plus the album is the No.2 selling Vinyl for the week.
Another act who debuted high with their fifth studio album is U.S. rapper, singer and songwriter NF (Nathan Feuerstein) with his latest set “Hope”, which has also landed at No.2 in both England and Norway, while it’s taken out the No.1 slot in New Zealand and The Netherlands. By entering so high this new set “Hope” (No.1 Hip Hop/R&B LP) becomes his highest charted here and now third Top 10 and fourth overall entry locally, after April 2021’s mixtape “Clouds” (HP-5) and his previous studio album “The Search” (HP-3, August 2019).
Scoring the new No.1 Single this week is Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” track, while the album it’s taken from “One Thing at a Time” is back up one spot to No.3 (No.1 Country LP), followed by single place rises for five more albums within the Top 10; “Gettin’ Old” for Luke Combs to No.4, “Midnights” by Taylor Swift to No.5 (No.4 Vinyl), “The Highlights” for The Weeknd (No.1 Catalogue Album), “Harry’s House” for Harry Styles to No.7 (No.8 Vinyl), matching the same position the album’s lead single “As it Was” is also sitting at this week and “SOS” for SZA to No.9.
Two albums returning to the Top 10 this week are “1989” (WI10-72) for Taylor Swift, up five spots to No.10, thanks in part to it being the No.5 selling Vinyl this week, while a newly repackaged 20th Anniversary Edition of the second Linkin Park album “Meteora” (HP-2, early April 2003, WI10-now 10) sees it return to the Top 100 at No.8 this week (LW-120; No.7 Vinyl), with the new set expanded to feature two live albums, two rarities albums, a Lost Demos set and three DVD’s, plus a bonus track called “Lost” which charted on February 20th, hitting No.49 first week.
TOP 20:
The recent Lana Del Rey release “did you know that there’s a tunnel under ocean blvd.” (HP-1×1, WI10-2) drops down four places to land at No.13 this week, while she also has two older albums in the lower 50 which are selling quite well on the vinyl chart at the moment, “Born to Die” (TW-56; No.11 Vinyl) and “Norman F**king Rockwell” (returns at No.94; No.16 Vinyl).
Lana’s set is the only declining album within the Top 20, as The Weeknd is back up to No.11 with “Starboy”, Elton’s Diamonds (17 to No.14), Eminem’s Curtain Call: The Hits (19 to No.16) and Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous” set (20 to No.18) all rise a little bit, while Taylor Swift increases her Top 20 tally to now five, as she jumps back up with “Lover” (21 to No.15; No.12 Vinyl), “Reputation” (25 to No.19; No.10 Vinyl) and “folklore” (28 to No.20). But the biggest leap within the chart this week is the debut Lewis Capaldi album “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”, leaping twenty-two places to land at No.17 (first time back within the Top 20 since the end of August 2021), thanks to him dropping a Netflix doco this past week called “How I’m Feeling Now”, plus his second album is due in five weeks time (May 19th) and then he is touring here in July.
TOP 30:
Rising within the Top 30 are “Fine Line” for Harry Styles to No.21, “SOUR” by Olivia Rodrigo to No.24 and back up five places to No.27 is the Fleetwood Mac set “Rumours” (No.15 Vinyl), who see their “Dreams” track return to the singles chart at No.40 this week, while on hold are three albums, “This One’s for You” by Luke Combs at No.26, Maroon 5’s “Singles Collection” at No.29 and “After Hours” for The Weeknd at No.30. Declining fast are two recent No.1 Albums, Pink’s “Trustfall” (14 to No.22) and Miley Cyrus’ “Endless Summer Vacation” (13 to No.28).
TOP 40:
Eight of the ten albums in this chart section either rise or remain stable this week, with the non-mover being Eminem and “Curtain Call 2” at No.37, while rises occur for “AM” by Arctic Monkeys (35 to No.31; No.10 Vinyl), Billie Eilish’s ‘Sleep’ set to No.34 followed by Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” at No.35 and returning to the Top 100 at No.39 (LW-107) is the October 2022 No.1 Album for The 1975 and “Being Funny in a Foreign Language” thanks in part to it being the No.17 selling Vinyl this week. Dropping down are “= (equals)” for Ed Sheeran, down five to No.36 and last week’s No.3 entry for boygenius and “the record” which falls thirty-five spots to land down at No.38 this week.
TOP 50:
The third of four Top 10 dropouts is the No.1 selling set for last week “PORTALS” for Melanie Martinez, which plummets this week forty-five places to land at No.46, with last week’s No.2 entry for DMA’s “How Many Dreams?” leaving the Top 50 this week, while another big drop occurs for the expanded Tyler, the Creator album “Call Me if You Get Lost: The Estate Sale”, which falls twenty-six places to land at No.44.
The sixth and seventh Top 50 entries this week for Taylor Swift sees her “Red (TsV)” dip two places to No.45, while her “evermore” set is back up six places to No.49, in the lower fifty this week she takes her Top 100 entries to a total of nine, as she also has “Fearless (TsV)” at No.70 and “Speak Now” is at No.87. The ABBA “Studio Albums” collection remains at No.47 for a third straight week and Luke Combs’ third set “Growin’ Up” drops six places to land at No.50.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #12 (LP#10) – The Cup of Pestilence – Frenzal Rhomb (Virgin Australia) is the first new music from the local punk outfit from Sydney, with their last new album being 2017’s “Hi-Vis High Tea” (HP-9, June 2017), while their first two albums were re-issued in late 2020 and 21, charting with their second set “Not so Tough Now” (LP#2, HP-34, Dec. 2021) and Coughing Up a Storm (LP#1, Dec. 2020), and also their sixth album in November of 2022 “Sans Souci” (No.7 Vinyl on Nov. 28th, 2022), so overall they’ve charted ten albums (9 studio and 1 compilation in 2016).
* #43 (LP#3) – NEVER ENOUGH – Daniel Caesar (Hollace/Republic) is the third album for the Canadian R&B artist and now his second to chart here, as his second set “Case Study 01” debuted and peaked at No.26 in early July of 2019, with this new set charting the highest (so far) in New Zealand at No.15.
HP = Highest Position
LW = Last Week
WI10 – Weeks in Top 10
*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 7th to the 13th of April 2023
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
