Daniel Johns’ second studio album “FutureNever ” rebounds back up ten places thanks to it’s physical release, to become his first solo No.1 Album.
“FutureNever” (Reclaim Your Art/BMG) becomes the 947th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2022), the 798th for ARIA (1983 to 2022), the sixteenth No.1 for 2022, the sixth this year by an Australian Artist, and the fifth for the BMG label, with their last being Kylie’s “Step Back in Time” (1 week on July 8th, 2019).
Between April 1995 and April 2007 Daniel’s former band Silverchair logged their five studio albums all at No.1, tallying ten overall weeks at the top for “Frogstomp” (3 weeks from April 9th, 1995), “Freakshow” (1 week on Feb 16th, 1997), “Neon Ballroom” (1 week on March 15th, 1999), “Diorama” (1 week on April 8th, 2002) and their last was “Young Modern” (4 weeks from April 9th, 2007). So this new No.1 “FutureNever” becomes his sixth No.1 appearance in Australia overall.
Last week I mentioned how three weeks from April 25th we had seen an album within the top two with the word ‘Future’ in it’s title or artist, Dua Lipa with “Future Nostalgia” (#1 on April 25th), Daniel’s album debuting at No.2 on May 2nd, then the artist Future took out the top spot last week with “I Never Liked You”, now Daniel’s album has extended that ‘future’ for a fourth week, making it also the third album at the top with the word ‘future’ in it’s title, after Dua Lipa and previously Justin Timberlake’s second album “Future Sex/Love Sounds” (1 week on Sept. 18th, 2006). It’s also a second week at the top for the word ‘never’, as last week’s #1 for Future also contained that word in it’s title, while overall this is now the fourth album with ‘never’ within the title.
“FutureNever” got a physical sales boost this past week, as it was only digital sales and streams for it’s first two weeks of release, while a limited edition colour cassette also helped boost its sales, while the vinyl edition is not schedule until September (according to JB Hifi’s website). After Huskii on February 22nd, Daniel Johns is now the second Solo Australian Male Artist to hit the top this year, plus also the sixth Aussie act at the top after Midnight Oil, Gang of Youths, The Wiggles and at the start of May Northlane. Overall this is the 271st Australian Performed No.1 Album, and also (weirdly) the 271st chart-topping album by a Solo Male Artist (local or overseas). Daniel Johns becomes the 130th Australian Artist to hit the top, and also the 35th Solo Male Australian Artist.
Jack Harlow sees his second studio album “Come Home the Kids Miss You” debut at No.2 this week, matching the position of his singles chart entry “First Class”, while two further songs from the album also land within the Top 20, “Dua Lipa” (#13) and “Churchill Downs” (#17) featuring Drake, with the album also seeing guest appearances from Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake and Lil’ Wayne. Jack’s first album “That’s What They All Say” came out in December of 2020 debuting at No.46, initially peaking at No.40 in January of 2021, and finally hitting a new peak of No.36 on April 18th of this year (when “First Class” initially came out), so this new entry becomes his first Top 10 placement in Australia, while the set has debuted at No.1 in New Zealand (where his single is also at the top of their charts), No.2 in Norway, No.3 in The Netherlands and Ireland, No.4 in England and No.8 in Sweden (so far).
Olivia Rodrigo drops down one spot to No.3 with “SOUR”, followed by a post Mother’s Day sales climb of one spot to No.4 for Adele’s “30” album, which swaps places with Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” (#12 vinyl), down a place to No.5. Ed Sheeran’s “= (Equals)” album is back up one place to No.6, while The Weeknd moves back up two spots to No.7 with “The Highlights”, after which Doja Cat dips two places to No.8 with “Planer Her”.
Sydney DJ and producer Alison Wonderland sees her third album “Loner” become her third successive Top 10 album this week, as it enters at No.9 (#4 vinyl) after “Run” (HP-6, March 2015) and “Awake” (HP-7, April 2018). This is followed by a No.10 entry for the third album by Sydney pop-punk act Stand Atlantic called “F.E.A.R.” (#2 vinyl), which becomes their first Top 10 placement and their second chart entry, as their second set “Pink Elephant” (HP-23, August 2020) was their first to chart.
UP:
Thanks to a ten-year anniversary vinyl reissue this past week, the sixth studio album for Hilltop Hoods called “Drinking from the Sun” (#1 for 2 weeks from March 19th, 2012) is the highest selling vinyl album this week, returning the album back to the Top 100 at No.12 this week.
The first album to climb outside of the Top 10 is the Fleetwood Mac set “Rumours” (#10 vinyl), which rises back up to No.19, while Taylor Swift’s “1989” set moves back up three to No.20, thanks in part to it’s redone track “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” debuting at No.23 on the singles chart, while she also moves up two spots with her other long-running entries “Lover” (to No.38) and “Reputation” (to No.46)
The few other climbing albums this week are the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ soundtrack for Queen back up four to No.35, Lewis Capaldi and “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent” up one to No.36 on it’s 3 year chart anniversary (156 weeks). With a new Kendrick Lamar album issued on Friday, his older set “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” is back up four to No.40, with Bruno’s “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” moves back up to No.44.
DOWN:
The four albums leaving the Top 10 this week are “Dawn FM” for The Weeknd (HP-1×3, WI10-8a) down five to No.13, “Future Nostalgia” by Dua Lipa (HP-1×3, WI10-63a) dipping four to No.14, last week’s No.1 entry (and U.S. and Canadian #1 this week) for Future and “I Never Like You” tumbles down sixteen places to No.17, while last weeks No.3 entry for Rammstein and “Zeit (Time)” dives down forty-four spots to land at No.47.
Justin Bieber’s “Justice” is leaving the Top 20 for the first time in it’s 60 weeks on the chart, down six spots this week to No.21, while six place drops also occur for “F**k Love” for Kid Laroi (18 to No.24, equal lowest chart position since Dec 27th, 2021 #24), both albums for Billie Eilish in “When We All Fall Asleep” (19 to No.25) and “Happier Than Ever” (22 to No.28, lowest ever chart spot) and both sets for Luke Combs, with “What You See Ain’t Always What You Get” (20 to No.26) and “This One’s for You” (24 to No.30).
In amongst those six-place drops is an eleven place decline to No.23 for the self-titled debut Harry Styles set, while a double-digit decline also occurs for Adele’s “25” set, dropping fourteen places to No.39. Taylor Swift has two four-place drops with “Red (TsV)” and “folklore” to No.32 and No.34 respectively, while The Weeknd’s “After Hours” set drops six spots to No.37. Top 40 entries from last week to drop into the lower fifty this week were by Mildlife (#29), Northlane (#33), Red Hot Chili Peppers (#34), Adele’s “21” (#35) and Norah Jones (#36).
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #11 (LP#6) – WE by Arcade Fire (Arcade Fire Music/Columbia) is the sixth studio album for the Canadian rock act, with the album landing at No.1 this week in England, Ireland and The Netherlands. It’s their sixth albums chart entry here and their first to miss a Top 10 berth since their debut set “Funeral” only reached No.80 in 2004, while they last charted with “Everything Now” (HP-2, August 2017).
* #27 (LP#15.3) – Infinite Disco by Kylie Minogue (Liberation) was a livestream event which had a recent physical release locally, with the set debuting at No.3 on the vinyl sales chart this week. The album is an extension (of sorts) from her “Disco” (HP-1, Nov. 16th, 2020) album and the expanded “Disco (Guest List Edition)” (HP-52, Jan 10th, 2022). As this was a live streamed event, it’s also classed as her ninth live album, with this set containing new live versions of her singles “Come into My World”, “In Your Eyes”, I Should Be So Lucky”, “All the Lovers”, “Slow” and “Love at First Sight” among it’s eighteen tracks, while the set has also hit No.11 in Scotland and No.40 in England this week.
* #41 (LP#9) – In the Eyes of a Child by Mark Vincent (Sony Australia) is the ninth album for the 28 year old season 3 A.G.T. winner (April 2009), with this new album being his first in three and a half years, with his last entry being his seasonal set “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (HP-16, Dec. 2018). Songs covered on the album include “Hero” (Mariah Carey; not Enrique Iglesias), “Music” (John Miles; not Madonna), “The Power of Love” (Jennifer Rush; not FGTH or Huey Lewis), “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” (Bryan Adams) and “Smile” (Charlie Chaplin).
* #48 (LP#6) – We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong by Sharon Van Etten (Jagjaguwar) is the first Top 50 entry for the America singer/songwriter who issued her first album in 2009, and in 2021 she appeared in the film “How it Ends”, which featured two of her new songs.
HP = Highest Position
LW = Last Week
WI10 – Weeks in Top 10
*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 6th to the 12th of May, 2022.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
