ABBA returns to the No.1 spot in Australia with their ninth studio album “Voyage”, their first new material in forty years, and now their fifth chart-topping album locally.
“Voyage” (Polar Music) by ABBA becomes the 931st No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2021), the 781st for ARIA (1983 to 2021), the 31st No.1 for 2021, the 567 to debut at No.1 (since ABBA became the first in 1976 with “Arrival”), and the first for their record label Polar, while it’s also the groups fifth No.1 Album locally, having first topped the chart with their third self-titled album “ABBA” from December 8th, 1975 for eleven consecutive weeks, then their first compilation of singles in “The Best of ABBA” began a sixteen week continual reign from March 29th, 1976, while next week in 1976 (Nov 22nd, 1976. almost 45 years ago) their fourth studio album “Arrival” started an eight week stay at the top in Australia. The new album has also landed first week in England, Ireland, New Zealand, and their home country of Sweden, plus Belgium, The Netherlands, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Czech Republic, Norway, Scotland and Switzerland; while it placed at No.2 in America and Canada, their highest charted set ever in America and equal highest in Canada.
ABBA’s fourth and last No.1 set was their “ABBA Gold” collection, which spent four weeks at No.1 from December 13th, 1992, also becoming their first ARIA No.1 Album, while the expanded “ABBA Gold & More” album is back within the Top 100 at No.85 this week, having recently rebound as high as No.18 on September 13th, 2021 when the new albums first two singles were issued. So ABBA have now racked up 40 overall weeks at No.1 in Australia from those five albums, placing them at now equal seventh on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2021)’ alongside Adele (40 weeks from 2 #1’s), which will most likely rise for her in the next few weeks. And like Ed Sheeran last week and Delta Goodrem earlier in the year, this new No.1 for ABBA makes them the third act this decade to land their fifth No.1 Album in Australia.
The last studio album for ABBA was “The Visitors” (LP#8) which first debuted on the AMR/Kent charts on December 28th, 1981, making it to No.22 by mid-January of 1982, while their last Top 10 studio album was with “Super Trouper” (LP#7) which started charting on December 1st, 1980, eventually peaking at No.5 for four weeks from the last week of 1980 through most of January 1981.
This is the first time that the word ‘Voyage’ has been in a No.1 Album title, the previous highest was the No.4 peak of George Ezra’s “Wanted on Voyage” (peaked Jan 2015) and for Swedish acts, only those starting with ‘A’ have ever been to No.1 on the Australian Albums Charts. The last Swede to top our charts (and the only other act apart from ABBA) was Avicii with his “True” album for a single week on February 13th, 2013, while overall this is the sixth No.1 Album by a Swedish act (5 for ABBA, 1 for Avicii), while for groups (local or overseas), this is the 409th No.1 Album by a group and the tenth for 2021.
Last week’s No.1 entry for Ed Sheeran’s “= (Equals)” is down one place this week to No.2, while it debuted at the top last week in both America and Canada, after which is a repackaged fourth and fifth studio albums for Radiohead in “Kid A” and “Amnesia” as “Kid A Mnesia”, which features a third disc containing out takes and new edits of songs, with both of those album debuting and peaking at No.2 in October of 2000 for “Kid A” and June of 2001 for “Amnesia”.
After peaking at No.2 last week the Doja Cat set “Planet Her” is back down two spots to No.4, while it’s 20th week within the Top 5 has now granted it a Gold (●) sales certification, after which are two place drops for “SOUR” by Olivia Rodrigo to No.5, “Certified Lover Boy” for Drake to No.6 and “Surrender” by Rufus du Sol to No.7. Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” is logging it’s 55th week within the Top 10 and dips down one place to No.8, followed by a three place declining “Justice” for Justin Bieber to No.9, while the current No.1 single for Elton John and Dua Lipa in “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)” is spending a second week at the top, it’s parent album “The Lockdown Sessions” is back up four spots to land a second week within the Top 10 at No.10.
UP:
TOP 20: With five songs within the Top 40 this week, including a No.9 duet debut with Post Malone, “The Highlights” for The Weeknd is back up two spots to No.11, with the two other single place climbers being “F**k Love” for Kid Laroi and “Fine Line” for Harry Styles (almost two years old) to No.14 and No.16 respectively.
TOP 30: Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album rebounds nine places this week to land at No.21, with three place rises for both Maroon 5’s “Singles Collection” to No.23 and “folklore” by Taylor Swift to No.25.
TOP 40: Two more Taylor albums move back up, with a single place step to No.38 for “evermore”, while her ‘Taylor’s version’ of “Red” was issued on Friday (Nov. 12th), the original 2012 album flies back up forty-eight places this week to land at No.40, the albums highest chart placement since November 2015.
TOP 50: The two albums that climb back into the Top 50 this week are “Astroworld” for Travis Scott, back up thirteen places to No.47 after he landed two new singles chart entries this week, while another rapper in XXXTentation is back up three spots to No.49 with his “?” set.
DOWN:
TOP 20: Two of the three Top 10 departing albums land within the Top 20, “Happier Than Ever” for Billie Eilish (HP-1×2, WI10-13) down four to No.12 and “Montero” for Lil’ Nas X (HP-1×1, WI10-5) dropping five to No.15, with the only other declining Top 20 entry being Adele’s “25” down two to No.13.
TOP 30: After plummeting from 3 to No.24 last week, the Lana Del Rey set “Blue Banister” is only down two spots this week to No.26, with the biggest drop within the Top 30 being “Donda” for Kanye West, down five to No.27, while Adele’s “21” album is down three to No.28.
TOP 40: With seven albums within the Top 50 this week, Taylor Swift sees declines for “1989” (29 to No.31) and “Lover” (34 to No.36) within the Top 40, while the third and final Top 10 dropout has the latest Coldplay album “Music of the Spheres” (HP-1×1, WI10-3) plummeting twenty-four spots to No.33.
TOP 50: Taylor’s two dropping albums within this chart region are “Fearless (T’s.V.)” and “Reputation” both down four places to No.42 and No.48 respectively. The Queen biopic soundtrack for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ falls six to No.43, with Top 20 entries from last week for Dami Im (#12), Mastodon (#16) and Even (#18) all leaving the Top 100 this week.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #17 – (LP#7) – self titled by Bullet for My Valentine (Spinefarm) is the seventh studio album for the Welsh heavy metal act and their first new material in over three years, while the set becomes their sixth Top 20 album, with their second to sixth sets all debuting and peaking within the Top 10 here, with their fifth release “Venom” hitting No.1 in late August of 2015.
* #18 – (LP#2) – Still Over it by Summer Walker (LVRN/Interscope) is the second album for the female American singer and rapper, and it comes just over two years and one place lower than her first album “Over it” achieved on October 14th, 2019 when it debuted and peaked at No.17, while this new album has also seen a No.94 singles chart entry this week for the track “No Love” with SZA.
* #22 – (Live#1) – Live at the Drive in by Hockey Dad (Farmer & The Owl/BMG) is the first live set for the Australian duo from NSW, becoming their fourth albums chart entry in the process, having previously charted with “Boronia” (LP#1, HP-55, August 2016), “Blend Inn” (LP#2, HP-6,, Feb 2018) and their third ‘B’ set “Brain Candy” (HP-2, August 2020).
* #30 – (LP#2) – Day/Night by Parcels (Because Music) becomes the Bryon Bay five-piece electro-pop groups first Top 50 placement and second albums chart entry, as their self-titled debut set made it to No.94 in October of 2018, while this new album has also charted in Belgium (#43), Switzerland (#31) and Germany (#19).
* #34 – (LP#1) – self titled by Springtime (TFS Records/Joyful Noise) is a trio of Australian musicians made up of Gareth Liddiard (The Drones, Tropical F**k Storm), Jim White (Xylouris White, Dirty Three, Cat Power) and Chris Abrahams (The Necks), with some of the songs using Gareth’s uncle Ian Duhig’s poetry in it’s lyrics, twice winner of ‘The National Poetry Competition’ in England.
* #35 – (LP#2) – Valentine by Snail Mail (Matador) is the second album for the American indie artist born Lindsey Jordan, while it’s also her first ever ARIA Albums Chart entry with her June 2018 debut set “Lush” failing to chart here, plus she had previously issued two EP’s in 2015 and 2016.
*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 5th to the 11th of November, 2021.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
