Adele’s “30” set retained a sixth week at No.1 in Australia this past week, the set achieving a new sales certification of ▲Platinum in sales.
“30” also remains at No.1 in New Zealand, Ireland (both sixth week), The U.S.A. and Canada (both fifth week), and it sets its new sales record in it’s sixth week upon the chart, with the other fastest selling album of the year in “SOUR” for Olivia Rodrigo achieving it’s Platinum status by it’s 19th chart week. Adele has now also accrued her overall 46th week at No.1 in Australia, tying her at No.4 on the listing for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2022)’ alongside Neil Diamond (46 weeks from 5 #1’s), and with no future threat to Adele’s reign in the foreseeable future, the set could continue at the top until late February, potentially when the new Midnight Oil album comes out on February 18th called “Resist” (Gang of Youths and Guns N’ Roses issue new sets the week after).
With this chart week occuring at the end of the Christmas period (three days 24th, 25th and 26th), the Michael Buble annual charter “Christmas” rebounds three spots this week to it’s usual end-of-the-year high-placed-position at No.2, higher than it’s 2020/21 No.3 peak, while it was last at No.1 at the end of 2019, with the rebound occurring just after his new Christmas special was aired on TV on Xmas Eve (last Friday the 24th of Dec.). The only other seasonal album within the Top 10 this week is the Paul Kelly set “Christmas Train”, which chug-a-chugs back down five spots this week to No.8.
Ed Sheeran and his latest album “+ (Equals)” dips down one spot to No.3, while he regains the top of both English charts this week, with the album reclaiming the No.1 spot, while his Elton John duet “Merry Christmas” retakes their No.1 singles throne, here that song has jumped to No.10. Rebounding two places each are “Red (Taylor’s version)” for Taylor Swift and “SOUR” by Olivia Rodrigo to No.4 and No.5 respectively. Jumping back up five spots to land at No.6 is the collection album for The Weeknd called “The Highlights” (#5 vinyl), the albums 25th week within the Top 10, after which are declining positions for ABBA and “Voyage” (4 to No.7) and the Doja Cat set “Planet Her” (8 to No.9), while her former album “Hot Pink” is newly ▲Platinum, and the Top 10 is rounded out by the Nirvana’s 1991 “Nevermind” album, scoring a second week in that position, thanks to it being the No.4 selling vinyl album for this week.
UP:
Talking of high selling vinyl editions flying back up the charts, this weeks No.3 selling set by The Arctic Monkeys and “AM” is up nine places nationally to No.12, while the No.2 selling vinyl is the 2015 Tame Impala set “Currents”, which helped it to return to the Top 100 last week at No.67 (#18 selling vinyl LW), and this week it flies back up fifty-two spots to land at No.15, it’s highest position since it hit No.13 on November 27th, 2017 thanks to an expanded edition (new tracks & remixes). The third act within the Top 20 to benefit from vinyl sales is Billie Eilish who tops-and-tails-the-20 with “Happier Than Ever” at No.11 and her first set “When We All Fall Asleep…” jumping back up thirteen spots to land at No.20 (vinyl 41 to No.11).
Further Top 20 rises occur for Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” (17 to No.13), “Justice” by Justin Bieber (19 to No.16). F**k Love” by Kid Laroi (24 to No.16) and “Diamonds” by Elton John (26 to No.19).
Four of the five albums within the Top 50 for Taylor Swift rise back up this week, with the already noted “Red” at No.4, she also regains positions with “1989” (34 to No.21), “evermore” (37 to No.27) and “Folklore” (44 to No.36).
Amy Winehouse rises two spots to No.28 with her “Back to Black” set (#8 vinyl), while Nirvana’s second Top 40 entry this week is their “MTV Unplugged in New York” set leaping fifteen spots to land at No.35, thanks to it being the No.7 selling vinyl this week. Two further rises occuring within the Top 40 are the Foo Fighters “Greatest Hits” (39 to No.37) and Luke Combs’ first album “This One’s for You” back up eight to No.39.
Further climbing collections occur for Maroon 5 (45 to No.41), Little Mix (51 to No.42), Bob Marley & the Wailers (53 to No.45, #10 vinyl this week) and Cold Chisel (54 to No.46). Billie Eilish has all three of her releases back within the Top 50 this week (two albums and one EP), with her “Don’t Smile at Me” EP back up ten places to No.48, followed by the Spacey Jane set “Sunlight” rising back up sixteen spots to No.50, while a re-entry to the chart occurs at No.44 for the Alex Henry Foster live set “Standing Under Bright Lights” (HP-6, April 2021).
DOWN:
The only album leaving the Top 10 this week is the Billie Eilish second set “Happier Than Ever” (HP-1×2, WI10-14), down two places to No.11, the only declining album within the Top 20, with the next drop occurring for the Fleetwood Mac set “Rumours”, back down seven spots to No.22. The recent new entry for Juice WRLD and “Fighting Demons” only drops five places this week to No.25, while Luke Combs’ second set “What You See is What You Get” dips three to No.30.
The Pink Floyd 1973 classic “The Dark Side of the Moon” drops back down twelve spots this week to No.34 (#6 vinyl), while best of sets for both INXS and Eminem remain stable at No.38 and No.40 respectively. Adele’s “25” set is only down one spot this week to No.24, while her “21” album tumbles fourteen places to land at No.43, while the only falling Taylor album within the Top 50 is “Fearless (Taylor’s version)”, which drops eight spots to No.49. Last week’s Top 30 entries for local acts Australian Bird Calls (#13) and Something for Kate (#25) both leave the Top 50 this week.
XMAS TITLES:
Apart from Michael Buble at No.2 and Paul Kelly and No.8, there are only two further seasonal sets within the Top 50 this week (as opposed to the 31 within the Top 50 singles chart), as Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas” is a non-mover at No.14, while Delta Goodrem’s “Only Santa Knows” set slips down nineteen spots to No.31, with a big drop occurring for Norah Jones’ set from last weeks No.16.
NEW ENTRIES:
* #23 – Sing 2 Soundtrack (Republic) is the follow-up to the 2016 film ‘Sing’, whose soundtrack made it to No.2 in mid-January of 2017, with this new album featuring 21 songs from the new film, this time around starring many of U2’s track (four in total), with the group providing the single “Your Song Saved My Life” as the albums lead track, with further songs sung by Taron Edgerton, Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Tori Kelly and Keke Palmer, while original songs appear from Elton John, Billie Eilish, Kygo & Whitney Houston, Halsey and Pharrell Williams. The album debuted at No.74 last week, and this week it has leapt up fifty-one places.
* #29 – Encanto Soundtrack (Walt Disney) is the soundtrack to the 60th animated Walt Disney film, with the music written by ‘Hamilton’ creator Lin-Manual Miranda, who also issued soundtracks last year for “Vivo” (August 2021, didn’t chart) and “In the Heights” (HP-59, July 2021), plus he first charted with his breakout album “Hamilton: An American Musical” (entered October 2015, HP-6 on July 20th, 2020).
*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 24th to the 30th of December, 2021.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
