Australian Charts: Bruce Springsteen 'Letter To You' Debuts At No 1

The twentieth studio album for Bruce Springsteen called “Letter to You” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart this week, becoming his fifth No.1 album in Australia.

“Letter to You” (Columbia) becomes the 897th No.1 Album in Australia (1965-2020), the 747th for ARIA (1983 to 2020), the 35th No.1 Album for 2020, the 534rd to debut at No.1 (since 1976) and the 48th for his record label Columbia (thru Sony), and their second for this year after Harry Styles back in January. The new album for Bruce also lands first week at the top in England (his 12th there) and New Zealand.

36 years and two weeks ago Bruce scored his first No.1 album in Australia when his seventh studio set “Born in the U.S.A.”, which initially spent one week at the top (October 22nd, 1984), before returning to the top two more times in 1985, two weeks from February 18th and then five further weeks from April 1st, 1985 around the time he toured here in support of the album. It was almost ten years later before his next No.1 in Australia as his first “Greatest Hits” set spent one week at the top (12-March, 1995). Since then his next two No.1 sets were also one week stayers in “High Hopes” (27th of Jan, 2014) and “Western Stars” (24th of June, 2019).

Bruce’s total weeks at No.1 in Australia is now up to twelve, moving him up on the list of “Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965-2020) from 58th to 54th (12 weeks in total and five #1’s) just ahead of Billy Joel and Pink Floyd (12 weeks from 4 #1’s). Bruce is also now one of twelve acts to have landed five No.1 albums in Australia, the last added to this list was Cold Chisel in December of 2019.

This is now the second album with the word ‘Letter’ in its title to hit No.1 here, the other was Taylor Henderson’s “Burnt Letters” (1 week on 21st of July, 2014), plus the 14th with a ‘You’, and the second for this year as Lime Cordiale were the last at No.1 with a ‘You’ in its title back on July 20th, 2020. Bruce’s new No.1 album becomes the 318th by an American performer (solo, duo, group, male or female) and the 256th by a Solo Male Artist (local or overseas) and the eleventh such artist (solo Male) for 2020.

**SPECIAL NOTE**Australia is getting close to seeing its 900th No.1 Album in the next few weeks. Below is a list of potential No.1 albums and artists in the next few weeks (based on past track records) and the rest of the year. 9-Nov (#898) – Ariana Grande, Midnight Oil or Sam Smith16-Nov (#899) – Kylie Minogue23-Nov (#900) – AC/DC 30-Nov (#901) – BTS or Something for Kate 6-Dec (#902) – Miley Cyrus, Powderfinger or The Smashing Pumpkins13-Dec (#903) – Shawn Mendes20-Dec (#904) – Paul McCartney or The Avalanches…unless Adele releases her fourth album before the EOY, then the above could all be scrapped.

There are four new entries to the Top 10 this week, with the sixth and self-titled album for Brisbane group Ball Park Music coming in at No.2, and in doing so it becomes their fifth Top 10 album and second to peak at No.2, as their third set “Puddinghead” reached the same peak in April of 2014. The band also returned with their first and third albums this week to the Top 50.

Last week’s No.1 album for Guy Sebastian and “T.R.U.T.H.” is down two spots to No.3, followed by a thirteen place resurgence for the second Luke Combs album “What You See is What You Get” which next week celebrates a year on the charts, and was re-issued last week with a bonus six extra tracks and the expanded edition is named “What You See Ain’t Always What You Get”. The track “Forever After All” is a new Top 20 entry on the singles chart this week (#14), becoming his highest charted single in Australia, while the album is now spending its 13th overall week within the Top 10.

The third new entry to the Top 10 is the seventh studio album for the Gorillaz called “Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez”, which lands first week at No.5, and becomes the animated acts fifth Top 10 and eighth Top 100 entry (7 studios and 1 best of) in Australia. This new set features guest vocals from Robert Smith (The Cure), Beck, ScHoolboy Q, Elton John, 6lack, Ocatvian, Goldlink and Skepta, with a second volume of the album due possibly next year.

Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” is the only stable album within the Top 10 this week, staying put at No.6 and spending a 46th week within our Top 10 Albums chart. Pop Smoke’s “Shoot for the Moon, Aim for the Stars” falls down four places to No.7 (10th week at No.1 in Canada this week) and last week’s No.2 set for Keith Urban and “The Speed of Now Part 1” falls seven places this week to No.9. The returning U.S. No.1 album this past week was “folklore” for Taylor Swift, which here is back up one spot to No.10 and spending a 13th week within the Australian Top 10. In between those four albums is a debut at No.8 for the group Nothing But Thieves and their third studio album “Moral Panic”, becoming the English bands first Top 10 entry here and third overall after their self-titled set (HP-27, October 2015) and “Broken Machine” (HP-12, September 2017).

UP:The first album to climb outside of the Top 10 is The Kid Laroi with “Fuck Love”, back up two places to No.25, thanks to his new Top 20 singles chart entry “So Done”, which is NOT from this album but his new EP out next week called “Savage” (Nov. 6th). After which the self-titled Harry Styles album is back up four places to No.27 and then we see The Weeknd’s “After Hours” set rising five spots to No.33.INXS’s “Very Best of” yo-yo’s again this week, rising back up ten places to No.35, the long-running “1989” set for Taylor Swift (314 weeks) is up three to No.37 and after plummeting to No.46 last week after being No.1 the week prior, this week the Linkin Park 20th Ann. Ed. of “Hybrid Theory” is back up three spots to No.43. This past week the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper version of “A Star is Born” was screened on free-to-air TV in Australia, thus the soundtrack to the film returns to the Top 100 this week at No.47. The set was first at No.1 this past week in 2018 (29th of October 2018), becoming the last No.1 album of that year, as the album spent ten weeks at the top initially, with one more week on February 11th, 2019 (11 in total).

DOWN:Six albums leave the Top 10 this week, starting with Juice WRLD’s “Legends Never Die” (HP-1, WI10-14, 8 to No.11), then “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac (HP-1×8, WI10.ARIA-4a, 9 to No.12), “THE ALBUM” for BLACKpink (HP-2, WI10-3, 5 to No.14), “Live Around the World” for Queen + Adam Lambert (HP-1×1, WI10-3, 7 to No.16) and falling into the lower fifty are “50 Push Ups for a Dollar” (EP) by Skegss (HP-4, WI10-1) and “Odyssey No.5 (20th Ann.Ed.)” by Powderfinger (HP-1×3, WI10-29a) leaving from No.10.Machine Gun Kelly’s “Tickets to My Downfall” drops down three spots to No.15, after which Post Malone’s two entries both slide in “Hollywood’s Bleeding” (19 to No.23) and “Beerbong’s & Bentley’s” (42 to No.46). Joji’s “Nectar” is down four to No.24, while falling five places each are Dua Lipa with “Future Nostalgia” and “Manic” for Halsey to No.29 and No.30 respectively.Unlike their new live album falling, the Queen biopic soundtrack ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is down only one spot to No.40, while other falling cast recordings declining are for ‘The Greatest Showman’ (35 to No.42) and ‘Julie & The Phantoms: Season 1’ (44 to No.49).

FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:* #20 (Live#19) – MTV Unplugged (1992) by Pearl Jam (Epic) was first recorded in March of 1992, but not released until November of 2019 as a special release for Record Store Day that year. So now the album has been widely released, becoming the bands 19th live album, with the seven tracks on the album recorded just after their first U.S. tour.

* #21 (LP#6.3) – Drinking from the Sun (Instrumental Edition) by Hilltop Hoods (Hilltop Hoods Pty Ltd) follows on from the recent “State of the Art” instrumental edition on October 12th, which made it to No.31. The original edition of this album went to No.1 in March of 2012 for two weeks, later being the basis for their second restrung album “Drinking from the Sun-Walking Under Stars-Restrung” (HP-1, late February of 2016), which is still charting in the lower fifty of the ARIA chart (198 weeks so far).

* #26 (LP#1+6) – Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs + Ball Park Music (StopStart)

* #34 (LP#3+6) – Puddinghead + Ball Park Music (StopStart) are the Brisbane bands first and third albums which were reissued on vinyl last week for the first time along with their new self-titled album as a digital bonus upon purchase. ‘Happiness’ originally peaked at No.36 upon release in September of 2011, so this re-entry for the album is at a new peak, while “Puddinghead” debuted and peaked at No.2 in April of 2014.

* #45 (EP#1) – Evolution (EP) by Joyner Lucas (Twenty Nine Music/Tully) is the first EP and now second entry in Australia for the America rapper, singer and producer, as back in early April of 2020 he debuted and peaked at No.9 with his debut album “ADHD”.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.

Noise11.com