It’s the seventh week in a row for Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, one week shy of the eight weeks his previous set “x (Multiply)” (TW-9) achieved during its six separate runs at the top during 2014 and 2015.
The last time an album stayed for seven consecutive weeks at No.1 was “25” (down one place to No.6 this week) by Adele from its debut in late November of 2015 until the second week of January in 2016. Ed has now amassed sixteen weeks at No.1, and he moves from equal 38th to now equal 36th on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2017)’ alongside the sixteen weeks racked up by INXS (from 4 #1’s) and Simon & Garfunkel (one #1 album).
The fourth studio album for Kendrick Lamar entitled “DAMN.” debuts at No.2 this week, becoming his third straight Top 3 entry after “untitled, unmastered” (HP-3, March 2016) and “To Pimp a Butterfly” (HP-1, March 2015), and this entry matches the position of the album’s first single in “Humble” which climbs to a new peak of No.2 this week. Plus the album also launches three more songs onto the chart this week in “DNA” (#16), “Loyalty” (#20) and “Love” (#29), the set featuring guest acts such as Rihanna and U2 and production from Mike Will Made-it and Dr Dre.
Local soprano Mark Vincent takes his seventh studio album “A Tribute to Mario Lanza” straight into the chart at No.3, becoming his highest debut position so far, and overall his fourth Top 5 set and fifth Top 10 album, plus his now second highest charted after his debut album “My Dream-My Visione” which climbed to No.2 in late July of 2009, this new set is all in time for Australia’s upcoming Mother’s Day in three weeks.
Two of last week’s Top 10 debuts retain their status within the ten this week, down two places to No.4 is the latest Tina Arena collection “Greatest Hits and Interpretations”, and also halving its position from last week are The Chainsmokers with “Memories… Do Not Open”, which is down four places to No.8. The third and final new entry to the Top 10 this week is at No.5 and it’s the seventh studio album for John Mayer entitled “The Search for Everything”, which by entering within the ten becomes his sixth Top 10 and Top 5 set, with his last set “Paradise Valley” hitting No.1 in early September of 2013.
The remainder of the Top 10 consists of “25” by Adele, down one to No.6, two soundtracks in “Trolls” (up one to No.7) and “Moana” (down four to No.10), with Ed Sheeran’s “x (Multiply)” on hold at No.9 again this week.
UP:
* After 130 weeks within the Top 100, the last Taylor Swift album in “1989” this week jumps back into the Top 20, up eleven places to No.16, it hasn’t been this high since mid-October of 2016.
* With ANZAC day this coming Tuesday, the tie-in album “Remembrance” is up nine places to a new peak of No.20 this week.
* Justin Bieber might have finished his national tour several weeks ago, but his “Purpose” is not finished as yet, this week it rises thirteen places to No.24.
* And with the second ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film is out here next week, the Volume 1 soundtrack is back up ten places this week to No.25.
* Bruno Mars has his three studio albums all within the Top 40 this week, with his latest set “24K Magic” up one to No.21, then his second set “Unorthodox Jukebox” is up twenty-five spots to No.29 and his debut album “Doo-Wops and Hooligans” rises sixteen spots to No.32.
* Beating Bruno this week is Kendrick Lamar who has four albums within the Top 100 this week, with his first and only No.1 here in “To Pimp a Butterfly” zooming up forty-one places to No.30, whilst his second set “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” (HP-23) returns at No.55, whilst last years “untitled unmastered” (HP-3) set is back in at No.84.
* “The Essential” collection for Van Morrison jumps up nine spots to No.35 this week.
* The only new album certification this week is a Gold (●) in sales for “Glory Days” by Little Mix, which rises three places to No.37.
* The Guns N’ Roses “Greatest Hits” collection rises back up twenty places to No.39, and the Queen GH is up nineteen to No.65, “The Best of” by Nickelback jumps up ten to No.70, and the GH for Notorious B.I.G. jumps up fourteen to No.81.
* One place shy of its former peak are Kaleo with “A/B” (HP-43), up five to No.44.
* Kasey Chambers’ “Dragonfly” regains its wings and flies up forty-seven places to land at No.47.
* The start of fifteen returning albums this week is led by Rhiannon Giddens and her “Freedom Highway” album, returning at a new peak of No.49, followed at No.50 by The Lumineers with their “Cleopatra” (HP-2) set.
* Busby Marou benefit from a vinyl release for their former No.1 set “Postcards from the Shell House”, which is back in at No.57, whilst Lady Gaga returns with two albums this week after her Coachella headlining this past week; “The Fame (Monster)” is back in at No.59 and her recent album “Joanne” (HP-2) sneaks back in at No.98.
* Halsey sees her debut set “Badlands” jump back up thirteen spots to No.61.
* Michael Kiwanuka and his “Love & Hate” (HP-35) set is back in at No.62, recent tourists here in Zac Brown Band with his “Greatest Hits So Far…” set returns at a new peak of No.67, whilst another visitor to our shores in Billy Bragg sees his “Shine a Light: Field Recordings from the Great American Railroad” also returns to a new chart height at No.68 this week.
* Ariana Grande’s last album “Dangerous Woman” is back up thirteen spots to No.73, and “Day Breaks” for Norah Jones rises twenty-two places to No.78.
* Further returning albums occur for I Prevail (#83), Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” (#89), Elton’s “Rocket Man: Definitive Hits” (#90), “Harvest” by Neil Young (#99) and The Cure with their “Greatest Hits” (#100).
DOWN:
* Three albums leave the Top 10 this week, with the soundtrack for “Beauty and the Beast” (HP-4, WI10-5) down four to No.11, and two of last week’s Top 10 debutees fall down this week, The Smith Street Band and “More Scared of You Than You Are of Me” (HP-3, WI10-1) drops fourteen to No.17 and the EP “PTX Vol.4-The Classics” (HP-10, WI10-1) for Pentatonix falls twenty-six places to No.36.
* James Blunt was in the country late this past week, and his album sales will probably be up for next week, but for this current sales week his new set “The Afterlove” is down ten places to No.28.
* Mastodon fall nine spots to No.33 with “Emperor of Sand”, which debuted at No.3 three weeks ago.
* Last week’s entry for Father John Misty and “Pure Comedy” is down twenty-eight spots to No.42.
* After a few more weeks back within the Top 50, the twenty one pilots set “Blurryface” is back down fifteen this week to No.51.
* Jon Stevens’ “Starlight” fades and halves its chart position from last week, down twenty-eight places to No.56.
* The new Deep Purple album that entered last week at No.20 in “Infinite”, drops down thirty-eight spots to No.58 this week.
* Tumbling forty-nine places to No.64 are Bethel Music with their “Starlight (Live)” set.
* After three weeks in the chart, the new Jamiroquai set “Automaton” (HP-7) falls thirty-three places this week to land at No.75.
* Two older titles falling this week are “Blue & Lonesome” for The Rolling Stones (65 to 82) and the Elvis Presley set “The Wonder of You” (63 to 86).
* Beyonce’s “Lemonade” loses chart-gas by falling down thirty-five places to No.93.
* Steel Panther see their recent Top 10 entry “Lower the Bar” fall thirty-four spots to No.96.
* Leaving the Top 100 from last weeks fifty are Falling in Reverse (#16), Joey Bada$$ (#19), Rachael Leahcar (#25), Aled Jones (#41), The Waifs (#43) and Deez Nuts (#46).
NEW ENTRIES:
* #13 (S/Tk) – The Fate of the Furious: The Album, Soundtrack is the eighth film in the ‘Fast and the Furious’ franchise, with the seventh film and album ‘Furious 7’ (HP-3) being released exactly two years, with the lead single from the set also sitting at No.1 in “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth. The lead single from this eighth instalment returns to the Top 100 at No.31 and is “Good Life” by G-Eazy and Kehlani, with further songs on the new soundtrack by Wiz Khalifa, Migos, Post Malone, Jeremih, Ty Dolla $ign and Pitbull amongst its fourteen tracks.
* #19 (LP#4) – One Good Shirt Had us All Fly by Spit Syndicate is the fourth studio album and third entry for the Sydney hip-hop duo, and now their second Top 20 entry, as their last set “Sunday Gentlemen” debuted and peaked at No.15 in March of 2013, whilst they first charted with “Exile” (LP#2, HP-81, May 2010).
* #80 (LP#2) – Sea of Noise by St. Paul & the Broken Bones is the second studio album and first entry in Australia for the six-piece soul band from Alabama in the USA, their first set was entitled “Half the City” and was released in early 2014, and this September 2016 released album is new to our charts due to the band recently being in Australia for a tour, playing Byron Bay’s ‘Bluesfest’.
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
