After seven weeks since its release, the second album for SZA called “SOS” finally climbs into the No.1 spot in Australia.
“SOS” (Top Dawg/RCA) becomes the 965th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2023), the 816th for ARIA (1983 to 2023), the first new No.1 of 2023 and first ever for SZA and her label Top Dawg, plus the set is also the 42nd for the RCA record label, with their last being for Kings of Leon with “When You See Yourself” on March 15th, 2021.
The SZA set had been sitting at No.2 (5 weeks) and No.3 (1 week) in the past, and now the album join’s other locations where it is again at No.1; in New Zealand, The U.S.A. (both sixth week) and Canada (fifth week), while the album previously scored a No.1 single with “Kill Bill” three weeks ago (Jan. 16th) for a sole week at the top, which is what might occur for this album also, as Sam Smith issued their new album “Gloria” on Friday, so that might take over the top spot in Australia next week.
“SOS” is now the second such titled album to hit the top locally, after October 3rd, 2022’s “5SOS5” for 5 Seconds of Summer (1 week), the new No.1 also becomes the 337th Album by an American Act to hit the top here, plus it’s the 155th by a Solo Female Artist, while for SZA she becomes the 164th American Act (solo male or female, duo or group) and the 39th Solo American Female Artist to grace the top of our Album Charts.
After eleven weeks at No.1 the Taylor Swift album “Midnights” is back down to No.2, a position it’s only sat in twice before, December 5th and 12th, 2022, while the album retains the No.1 spot on the Vinyl Sales Chart for an eighth broken week. This is followed by two of the three best of collections within the Top 10, The Weeknd with “The Highlights” and current touring legend Elton John with “Diamonds” (No.1 Catalogue Album this week), while the is Eminem with “Curtain Call: The Hits”, all of which rise back up one spot to No.3, No.4 and No.7 respectively.
Further rising albums within the Top 10 are “Harry’s House” for Harry Styles (7 to No.5; No.7 vinyl), “Heroes & Villains” for Metro Boomin’ (9 to No.6, HP-5), while returning to the ten are “Starboy” for The Weeknd (11 to No.9, WI10-7) and “Future Nostalgia” for Dua Lipa (14 to No.10, WI10-66). The second and final album declining within the Top 10 is “AM” for Arctic Monkeys (6 to No.8), which is still the No.4 vinyl this week, plus they also have the No.12 selling vinyl with “Favourite Worst Nightmare”, and last week’s No.3 entry for “The Car” (HP-2, WI10-2) crashes out of the Top 50 all together this week after a pop-up shop and vinyl sales surge the previous week.
TOP 20:
The other Top 10 dropout this week is “The Essential” for Foo Fighters (HP-5, WI10-10; No.20 vinyl), down one spot to No.11, while four albums hold their positions from last week’s Top 20, “SOUR” by Olivia Rodrigo at No.12, “This One’s for You” by Luke Combs at No.13, “Fine Line” by Harry Styles at No.17 and three-weeks-and-counting future tourist Ed Sheeran with “÷ (divide)” at No.18. Luke’s other Top 20 entry is “What You See Ain’t Always What You Get”, up two spots to No.14, with a seven-place jump to No.15 for Taylor’s “1989” set, while Eminem’s “Curtain Call 2” climbs two spots to land back within the Top 20 at No.19.
TOP 30:
Ed’s second (and final) Top 50 entry this week is his “= (equals)” set back up two places to No.21, followed by rises for “Dangerous” by Morgan Wallen (25 to No.22), “After Hours” by The Weeknd (28 to No.23), “Growin’ Up” by Luke Combs (26 to No.24, the title track was issued a single on Friday Jan. 27th), “Her Loss” by Drake and 21 Savage (32 to No.28), a massive twelve place leap to No.29 for “Planet Her” by Doja Cat and the XXXTentacion “Look at Me: The Album” returns to the Top 30 by climbing seven places to No.30. The only major decline within the thirty is a five place drop to No.25 for Taylor’s “Lover” set.
TOP 40:
The fourth and fifth (and final) Taylor Swift albums within the Top 50 are sitting back-to-back, with her “Reputation” down seven places to No.31, and her “folklore” set back up two to No.32. Eminem has a third rise this week with “The Eminem Show” (36 to No.33), while the pending second Lewis Capaldi album (due May 19th) sees his debut set “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” jump back up twelve places to No.34.
Further rises occur for “Teenage Dreams” by Katy Perry (38 to No.35), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen (40 to No.36) and Spacey Jane with “Here Comes Everybody” (42 to No.38), while one place higher and dropping eight places to No.37 is the INXS “Very Best of”. Kendrick Lamar is down eight places to No.39 with “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City”, which is the No.3 vinyl this week, while he also sees entries on that chart at No.13 with “Damn” and No.14 with “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”. Billie Eilish cracks one-and-a-half-years on the chart at 78 weeks with “Happier Than Ever”, which drops down seven places to land at No.40.
TOP 50:
Tame Impala have the No.2 Vinyl Album this week with their “Currents” set, which nationally is down six places to No.41, followed by two small rises for “Dua Lipa” (44 to No.42) and “Shoot for the Moon” by Pop Smoke (47 to No.44), while there are also three best of sets within this chart section, Green Day’s “GH: God’s Favourite Band” (59 to No.45), the act starting their national tour this weekend, Red Hot Chili Peppers and their “Greatest Hits”, jumping seventeen places to land at No.47, while the Bon Jovi GH’s set is down four places to No.49, with a third album returning the Top 50, up ten spots to No.50 is “Justice” for Justin Bieber.
NEW ENTRY:
* #27 (LP#3) – Rush! by Måneskin (Epic/Sony Italy) is the third studio album from the Italian Rock act, who won Eurovision in 2021, and their first to chart in Australia, as they have only scored two Top 20 singles in 2021, “Beggin'” (HP-3) and “I Wanna Be Your Slave” (HP-15), while this album has seen four pre-release tracks in “Mammamia” (Oct. 2021), “Supermodel” (May 2022), “The Loneliest” (Oct. 2022) and just recently “Gossip” (Jan. 2023).
HP = Highest Position
LW = Last Week
WI10 – Weeks in Top 10
*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 20th to the 26th of January 2023
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
