Australian Albums: Delta Goodrem 'Bridge Over Troubled Dreams' Debuts At No 1

Delta Goodrem sees her seventh studio album “Bridge Over Troubled Dreams” become her fifth No.1 Album in Australia this week.

“Bridge Over Troubled Dreams” (Sony Aust.) becomes the 916th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2021), the 766th for ARIA (1983 to 2021), the 16th (new) No.1 for 2021, the 30th for Sony Music (direct) and second for them this year after Illy in late January, while the new No.1 is also the fifth for Delta after “Innocent Eyes” (29 broken weeks from March 31st, 2003), along with single week No.1’s in “Mistaken Identity” (15th Nov, 2004), “Delta” (29th Oct, 2007) and her last was with “Wings of the Wild” (11th of July, 2016).

This new No.1 album for Delta takes her tally of weeks at No.1 in Australia to now 33 weeks, placing her equal 11th on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2021)’ alongside Michael Buble (also 33 weeks from 5 #1’s), and one week shy of Jimmy Barnes’ 34 weeks, while Delta also joins other Aussie acts who’ve landed five No.1’s in Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, Kasey Chambers, Olivia Newton-John, Crowded House, Powderfinger and Silverchair, while Kasey and Olivia along with Delta are all now tied in equal second place on the list for ‘Aussie Female Solo Singers: Most No.1 Albums (1965 to 2021)’, with Kylie’s seven No.1’s leading that listing.

Another new chart feat that this week’s No.1 album does is to become the first by an Australian Solo Female Artist to knock a fellow Oz Solo Female Artist off the top spot, as Delta takes over from Amy Shark’s second album. While this has happened in the past with fellow non-Aussie female Solo artists, it’s not occurred for two local lasses one-week after the other (that I could find). The last time this chart feat occurred (female-singer-taking-over-from-a-female-singer) was in early July of 2019 when Kylie’s “Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection” (8th of July) was replaced by the returning Billie Eillish debut set for a seventh week at No.1 (15th of July, 2019). Delta is also scoring her eighth Top 10 album (from 8 releases, 7 studios and 1 soundtrack) this week too, having last charted in November of 2020 with her first seasonal album “Only Santa Knows” (HP-2, peaked late Dec. 2020).

The 24th No.1 album in Australia was Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (16 weeks from April 6th, 1970), thus Delta’s new No.1 matches that title with three of it’s four words, while overall it’s the sixth to feature the word ‘Over’, the second for both a ‘Bridge’ and ‘Troubled’ and now the fourth for ‘Dreams’ to appear in a No.1 Album’s titles, with the three previous ones belonging to Linda Ronstadt (1978), Billy Joel (1993) and Jack Johnson (2005). The new No.1 album is also the eighth by an Australian act for 2021 and the 259th overall Australian Performed No.1 Album (solo, duo, group, male or female), plus it’s also the 142nd by a Solo Female Artist (local or overseas) and the fifth for 2021 after Tash Sultana, Dua Lipa (both March), Taylor Swift (April) and Amy Shark (early May).

Another local act comes in at No.2 this week, You Am I with their eleventh studio album called “The Lives of Others”, their first new release in five-and-a-half years and their first Top 10 berth since May 2001’s “Dress Me Slowly” (LP#5, HP-3), and overall this is now their sixth Top 10 (five studios and one live album from 1999) and fifth Top 3 album. This is followed at No.3 by the sixth studio album by U.S. rapper and singer J. Cole called “The Off-Season”, which becomes his fourth Top 10 album in Australia, and all eleven tracks from the album have landed within the Top 50 singles chart this week. His last two chart entries landed one place higher in 2019’s “Revenge of the Dreamers III” (HP-2, July) and 2018’s “KOD” (HP-1×1, late April 2018).

Returning to the chart at a new peak of No.4 is the last chart entry for local psych-rock act King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard with “L.W.”, which far surpasses its original entry position of No.39 (8th of March, 2021), thanks to its physical release last week (it’s initial run was digital sales only). And by re-entering so high up the charts, this set now becomes the group’s eleventh Top 10 and seventh Top 5 album in Australia.

Half of last week’s Top 10 albums remaining within the ten this week; the returning No.1 Album in Canada this past week (fifth week overall) is Justin Bieber with “Justice”, which here slips down three spots to No.5, followed by the last two weeks’ No.1 album for Amy Shark and “Cry Forever”, which falls five places to No.6 this week. Both Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” and Harry Styles with “Fine Line” drop four spots each to No.7 and No.9 respectively, while there’s a three place dip to No.10 for The Weeknd’s “Highlights” collection.

The fifth and final entry to the Top 10 this week is another Delta set, this time by rock group The Black Keys called “Delta Kream”, which comes in at No.8 and is the bands tenth studio album and also fifth Top 10 album in Australia. The new entry comes in at the same position their first Top 10 entry achieved, “Brothers” (HP-8, May 2010), while they’ve also hit the ten with “El Camino” (HP-3, Dec 2011), “Turn Blue” (HP-1×2, May 2014) and last charted with “Let’s Rock” (HP-4, July 2019).

UP:
* Like the singles chart, there are only two climbing albums within the Top 50 this week, both of which happen to be albums which rise back up into the fifty, the self-titled Harry Styles set (51 to No.45) and Bon Jovi’s “Greatest Hits – The Ultimate Collection” (55 to No.50).

DOWN:
TOP 20: Three of the five Top 10 exiting albums can be found within the Top 20 this week, Pop Smoke’s “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon” (HP-1×1, WI10-35) down two to No.11, The Kid Laroi’s mixtape and EP (HP-1×1, WI10-28) dipping four to No.12 and Billie Eilish and her debut set “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” (HP-1×8, WI10-86a) falling seven spots to No.13. Luke Combs is back to one Top 20 entry in his second set “What You See is What You Get”, down four to No.12, with further declines occurring for “Diamonds” by Elton John (11 to No.19) and Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” (14 to No.20).
TOP 30: The final two Top 10 dropouts land in the Top 30 this week, Taylor Swift has three albums within the thirty, her re-done “Fearless” set (HP-1×1, WI10-5) tumbles eleven spots to No.21, while she’s also dropping with “folklore” (25 to No.27) and “1989” (21 to No.30). The fifth and final dropout from the ten is last week’s highest new entry for Rag’N’Bone Man with his second set “Life by Misadventure” (HP-4, WI10-1), plummeting twenty-two places to No.26. Last week Maroon 5 finally hit a new peak of No.16 with the “Singles Collection”, which this week is back down six places to No.22, followed by further falling albums in “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac (15 to No.23), seven places drops for both “This One’s for You” by Luke Combs (17 to No.24) and Eminem’s “Curtain Call: The Hits” (18 to No.25). “Khaled Khaled” by DJ Khaled falls fifteen spots to No.28 and Juice WRLD’s “Legends Never Die” falls nine places to land at No.29.
TOP 40: Ariana’s “Positions” decline twelve places to No.31, on the two-year (104 weeks) chart anniversary for Lewis Capaldi’s debut set “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”, the album falls ten places to No.32, with a Queen + Adam Lambert doco, a Freddie doco and Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ all screening on TV earlier this past week, their soundtrack to that film is only down three places to No.33. But everything else within the Top 40 takes bigger drops down the chart, Morgan Wallen falls ten to No.34, Spacey Jane declines twelve to No.35, Bruno Mars’ “Doo-Wops…” falls seven to No.36, the ‘Hamilton’ cast recording falls nine to No.37, both the INXS “Very Best of” and Taylor Swift’s “evermore” fall twelve places each to No.38 and No.39 respectively, followed by an eight place fall to No.40 for Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding”.
TOP 50: Lime Cordiale see their “14 Steps to a Better You” album fall eights spots to No.42, Dua Lipa first set and “?” for XXXTentation both drop seven to No.43 and No.44, “Hot Pink” by Doja Cat is down thirteen places to No.46 and “Love Goes” by Sam Smith falls twelve spots to No.47.

FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #14 (LP21) – Where Have You Gone by Alan Jackson (Capitol Nashville) is the 21st studio album and now 14th entry here (10 studio and 4 compilations) for the America country singer, plus it’s his first release in almost six years, as he last charted with his 20th album “Angels and Alcohol” (HP-4, early August 2015).

* #15 (LP#6) – Daddy’s Home by St. Vincent (Loma Vista/Concord) is the sixth album for the American female singer and now her third to chart here after “Masseducation” (LP#5, HP-19, Oct 2017) and eponymous fourth album (HP-54, March 2014), so with her new album coming in at No.15 this gives her her highest charted album in Australia.

* #17 (LP#5) – Jason Owen Sings John Denver: The Acoustic Sessions by Jason Owens (Checked Label) is the former 2012 X-Factor runner-up’s fifth studio album and now his fourth to chart and third to land within the Top 20, as he first charted in May of 2013 with his first set “Life is a Highway” (LP#1, HP-5) and then with “Friday Night” (LP#2, HP-9, March 2015), while he last charted with his fourth set “Sings John Denver” (LP#4, HP-85, July 2017), with this new set featuring a slightly different track listing to his previous J.D. cover set, this one also includes a duet with Tania Kernaghan on “Back Home Again”.

* #18 (LP#4) – Changing Colours by Babe Rainbow (Eureka Music) is the fourth studio album for the Byron Bay, NSW psych-rock act and now second Top 20 entry, as their second set “Double Rainbow” debuted and peaked at No.18 in late July of 2018, meaning both of their chart entries have peaked in the same position.

* #41 (mix#3) – Beam Me Up Scotty (mixtape) by Nicki Minaj (Republic) was originally issued in April of 2009, and the mixtape has been redone and re-arranged with a few extra tracks for a 2021 re-issue, while the original release did not chart locally. The redone set features guests such as Drake, Lil’ Wayne, Bobby V and Gucci Mane among the performers.

* #49 (EP#3) – Be Right Back (EP) by Jorja Smith (FAMM/The Orchard) is the third issued EP and now second chart entry for the British Female singer, having first charted with her debut album “Lost & Found” (HP-13, June 2018).

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 14th to the 20th of May, 2021.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

Noise11.com