The Wiggles land their first No.1 Album in Australia this week as their double album compilation and covers album “ReWiggled” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart.
“ReWiggled” (ABC Music) becomes the 940th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2022), the 791st for ARIA (1983 to 2022), the 576th to debut at No.1, the eighth No.1 for this year and seventh for the ABC record label, having previously seen five ‘Like a Version’ album go to the top from 2013 to 2017 (Volumes 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13), while their only other non-compilation to hit the top was Lee Kernaghan’s “Spirit of the ANZACS” (4 weeks from March 30th, 2015).
We've just found out that #ReWiggled has topped this week's @aria_official charts as the #1 album! We're absolutely over the moon and want to thank all those who downloaded and purchased it! Big thanks to all the artists who contributed to the album as well. 💙❤💛💜 #TheWiggles pic.twitter.com/Nsontu1CZi
— The Wiggles (@TheWiggles) March 18, 2022
The double sets two albums contain a thirteen track albums of classic Wiggles songs covered by local Australian act like Spacey Jane, San Cisco, DZ Deathrays, Custard and Dami Im among them, with twelve of the 13 acts having never previously had a No.1 album, (only Dami has), while the second album contains fourteen classic songs covered by The Wiggles, from Queen, Fatboy Slim, Melanie, AC/DC, Rihanna, Blondie and The Rolling Stones among them, including their first ever Top 10 single “Elephant” (HP-10, January 31st, 2022) originally by Tame Impala.
The Wiggles set “ReWiggled” is their 57th studio album, and now their first No.1 set, having previously peaked as high as No.3 with two albums; “Nursery Rhymes 2” (March 2018) and their second best of set “We’re All Fruit Salad: The Wiggles’ Greatest Hits” (March 2021), those two albums also being their only Top 10 entries, thus this new set becomes their third Top 10 overall. The word ‘wiggle’ has never appeared in a No.1 album title before, and this new chart-topping album becomes the fourth by an Australian Act to hit the top this year after Huskii, Midnight Oil (both in February) and Gang of Youths (March 7th). Overall this is the 269th No.1 Album by Aussie act (solo male, female, duo or group), and The Wiggles becomes the 129th Australian Act to hit No.1, the 70th Australian Group, and the album becomes the 413th by a Group (local or overseas) to make it to the top.
The No.2 entry this week is the fourth studio album for English artist Rex Orange County called “Who Cares?”, which enters at No.1 in both his home country of England and New Zealand, and also comes in at No.2 in Ireland. The set becomes his third albums chart entry in Australia, and his second Top 10/5 entry, as his last album “Pony” debuted and peaked at No.4 in early November of 2019. Entering at No.3 is the fifth studio album for Swedish rock band Ghost called “IMPERA”, also becoming their third chart entry and second Top 10, as their last set “Prequelle” hit No.7 in June of 2018, making this new entry their highest charted locally.
Last week’s No.1 Album in the ‘Encanto’ soundtrack drops back down three spots to No.4, while it remains at the top in both The U.S.A. (9th week) and Canada (7th week), and the current Irish No.1 Album in “SOUR” for Olivia Rodrigo is here down three spots to No.5, followed by a one place dip to No.6 for the Doja Cat set “Planet Her”.
The fourth and final Top 10 (and Top 50) debut for this week is the tenth studio album, and first new material in twelve years, for Australian group Hoodoo Gurus called “Chariots of the Gods”, which lands first week at No.7, becoming their fifth Top 10 Album in Australia, and their first since 1994’s “Crank” (LP#6) hit No.2 in late February of 1994, while all up this is their fifteenth Top 100 entry (10 studios and 5 compilations). Ed Sheeran announced his March 2023 Australian tour this past week, with ticket sales starting this coming week (march 23rd), thus his latest album “= (Equals)” is only down one spot to No.8, followed by The Weeknd’s compilation “The Highlights”, dipping three to No.9, and Adele’s “30” drops two places to land at No.10.
UP:
Maroon 5’s “Singles Collection” is again back to it’s recent highest peak of No.14 for a second time (Feb. 28th, 2022 was the other), moving back up two places this week to be the only rising albums within the Top 20, while Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” and Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” are the two non-movers within the twenty at No.17 and No.19 respectively.
Both Luke Combs albums rise back up, with his second set up one spot to No.25 and his first moving three to No.28. Taylor’s only upward move this week is a one place rise to No.27 with her long running “1989” set, while her “Reputation” is stable at No.41.
Nirvana this week have a Top 30 single called “Something in the Way” from ‘The Batman’ film, thus the tracks’ parent album “Nevermind” rises up to No.32 this week, while the end of the month will see the release on DVD and BluRay of the ‘Sing 2’ film, which this week sees it’s soundtrack rise back up eleven spots to No.34.
This week the ABC screened a Freddie Mercury documentary about his tribute concert in 1992, and that in turn has helped the Queen biopic soundtrack for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to jump back up eleven places to No.42, with the last significant rise being a seven place move back into the Top 50 for the Coldplay live album “Live in Buenos Aires”, to No.47. The album has been charting for 135 weeks within the Top 100 since it first debuted in mid December of 2018, but this is only it’s fourth week within the Top 50, having last been within the fifty on May 7th, 2021 at No.45.
DOWN:
Three of the four Top 10 dropouts land within the Top 50 this week, with the smallest departure being for the Dua Lipa set “Future Nostalgia” (HP-1×2, WI10-60a), down two spots to No.11, followed by the Gang of Youths recent No.1 set “angel in realtime” (HP-1, WI10-2) falling eight places to No.12, while last week’s surge for The Foo Fighters “Greatest Hits” after their one-off live show here, is this week back down thirteen spots to No.23, with the fourth dropout being Missy Higgins’ “Total Control” set (LW-3) falling into the lower fifty.
Of the five Taylor Swift albums within the Top 50, three fall, and two of them drop six places each, with “Red (TsV)” down to No.18 and “folklore” dropping to No.30, while her third decline occurs for “Lover”, down one to No.33. Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” dips two places to No.29 and is the first of two new sales certifications this week, now Gold (●) in sales.
Midnight Oil’s latest set “Resist” tumbles down twenty-one places to No.36, followed by an eight place fall to No.37 for the ‘Euphoria’ TV soundtrack, which had spent the past three weeks at it’s peak of No.29. The XXXTentacion set “?” drops back down five places to No.45 and is cracking it’s four-year chart anniversary (208 weeks), having only ever left the Top 100 chart for one week since debuting on March 26th, 2018.Further declines occur with “AM” for The Arctic Monkeys (37 to No.48) and “DONDA” for Kanye West (36 to No.49), while the Lewis Capaldi debut set “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extant” leaves the Top 50 for only the second time in 2022, and is newly certified as ▲Platinum in sales.
No Further New Entries.
*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 11th to the 17th of March, 2022.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
