It’s a fourth consecutive No.1 album in Australia for Ed Sheeran as his new album “No.6 Collaborations Project” debuts at the top here and also in New Zealand, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and in his home country of England (so far).
“No.6 Collaborations Project” becomes the 852nd No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2019), the 702nd for ARIA (1983 to 2019), the 492nd to debut at No.1 (1986 to 2019), the fourteenth No.1 of 2019 and the fifth for the record label Asylum, with their last being Ed’s third set “÷ (Divide)” (#800th No.1 album in Oz, started 13-March in 2017, for 27 weeks in total).
Ed’s first album “+ (Positive)” (TW-68) spent a single week at the top on the 13th of August, 2012, after which his second set “x (Multiply)” (TW-36) logged six runs and eight weeks at No.1 (from 30th of June, 2014 until 29th of June, 2015), while his third title “÷ (Divide)” (TW-8) went on to ring up 27 weeks at No.1 from nine separate runs at the top (from 13th of March, 2017 until it’s last week on 9th of April, 2018). This brings Ed’s tally of weeks at the top in Australia to now 37 weeks from his four #1 albums, and on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1; Albums: 1965 to 2019’ he remains at No.9, but a few more weeks at the top will move him up and past the totals for Rod Stewart (38 weeks from 7 #1’s) and ABBA (39 weeks from 4 #1’s), while on the similar list for this decade (2010 to 2019) his thirty-seven racked up weeks at the top holds him in second position behind Adele’s 40 weeks at the summit during this decade (Ed could pass Adele in the next few weeks if he holds the top, but there’s rumours of a new Adele album by the end of the year, so she could overtake him again).
It’s the first time at No.1 for the words ‘6’, ‘Collaboration’ and ‘Project’, but not for No. or even Number, as previous numbers and No.’s at the top were “Odyssey No.5” for Powderfinger (3 weeks from 11-Sept, 2000), Anthony Callea’s “ARIA No.1 Hits in Symphony” (1 week on 18-Sept, 2017) and the two numbers were “Colour by Numbers” for Culture Club (7 broken weeks from 24-Oct, 1983) and earlier in that same year The Beatles with “The Number Ones” (1 week on 20-June, 1983).
“No.6 Collaborations Project” has seen all fifteen of it’s tracks chart this week, three already embedded in the chart, two entered last week and the remaining ten enter this week. Ed’s previous five collaborations projects were EP’s, with his fifth volume containing eight tracks, most notable with guests Wiley and rapper P Money, while this new set has more major artists like Khalid, Eminem, 50 Cent, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and Skirllex among them.
The new No.1 album also becomes the 155th No.1 album by an English act (solo, duo, group, male or female) and the third for 2019 after chart-topping sets by Queen (Jan) and Bring Me the Horizon (Feb), while the new No.1 is the 240th by a Solo Male Artist (local or overseas) and the fifth for this year after previous solo male acts at the summit like Dean Lewis (April), Conrad Sewell (May), Jimmy Barnes and Bruce Springsteen (both in June), with the last (new) solo English artist at the top being the self-titled Harry Styles set (22-May, 2017), although Ed did regain the top spot after Harry for a further sixteen weeks until his last appearance at the top on the 9th of April, 2018. The Solo English Male artists with the most weeks at No.1 are listed below.
English Solo Male Artists (most weeks at No.1)
1 – 38 weeks – Rod Stewart (7 #1 albums)
2 – 37 weeks – Ed Sheeran (4 #1 albums)
3 – 30 weeks – Elton John (7 #1 albums)
4 – 17 weeks – John Lennon (4 #1 albums)
5 – 13 weeks – James Blunt (2 #1 albums)
6 – 12 weeks – Robbie Williams (4 #1 albums)
7 – 11 weeks – Joe Cocker (2 #1 albums)
8 – 10 weeks – Paul McCartney (& Wings) (2 #1 albums)
9 – 8 weeks – George Harrison (1 #1 album)
10 – 7 weeks – David Bowie (3 #1 albums)
Whatever albums were issued the same week that a new Ed Sheeran album came out, were not going to beat him to the top, but the Angus Stone side project called Dope Lemon has debuted at No.2 with the second album under that moniker called “Smooth Big Cat”, which is their first Top 10, surpassing the No.11 peak of the first release “Honey Bones” (peaked late June of 2016), with this new album also charting in Germany (#44) so far, and coming in at No.1 on this weeks vinyl chart (new Ed was at #2), while overall this is the fourth solo project for Angus to chart, as he also released the solo album “Broken Brights” (HP-2, July 2012) and under another pseudonym of Lady of the Sunshine whose album “Smoking Gun” made it to No.45 back in mid-April of 2009.
After seven broken weeks at No.1 the Billie Eilish debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” falls down two spots this week to No.3, while also dipping two places apiece are Elton John’s “Diamonds” collection and P!nk with her “Hurts 2B Human” set to No.5 and No.6 respectively. I’ve already mentioned that Ed Sheeran’s third album “÷ (Divide)” is at No.8 this week (on hold too) and climbing back up into the Top 10 for a 30th week inside the ten is the Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper soundtrack for ‘A Star is Born’ (13 to 9).
Local Australian artist Thelma Plum sees her debut studio album called “Better in Blak” enter at No.4 this week thanks to it’s massive Triple J play and also her promo tour around the country this week, after which another local artist in the rapper AllDay places his third studio album into the chart at No.7 called “Starry Night Over the Phone”, which becomes his third Top 10 album and fourth overall entry, as he previously charted with “Loners are Cool” (EP#2, HP-18, April 2013), then “Startup Cult” (LP#1, HP-3, July 2014) and his last entry was “Speeding” (HP-6, May 2017), with guests on his new set including The Veronicas and Japanese Wallpaper.
The fifth and final new entry debut this week is the soundtrack to the “live-action” remake from Disney of their 1994 animated classic “The Lion King”, coming in at No.10 first week. This new version features voicework and singing by Beyoncé, Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), Seth Rogan, Billy Eichner, John Oliver and the original songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice and producer by Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams, while there was a surprise release album on Friday of extra tracks and non-film songs by the above artists called “The Lion King: The Gift”. The original soundtrack from August of 1994 initially debuted within the Top 30 and took three weeks to climb into the Top 10, peaking at No.3 in mid-October and logging ten weeks within the Top 10.
UP:
* Following on from last weeks conference and gathering for Hillsong, their album “People” climbs again this week, up ten spots to No.23.
* The Fleetwood Mac tour will be on our shores in three weeks time, starting in Perth, and their 1977 classic album “Rumours” is back up three spots to No.38, it’s first time back within the Top 40 since it hit No.35 in early May of 2017, while their ‘Longest Charted Album’ in “The Very Best of” (507 weeks) is on hold at No.85.
* Eminem rises a few places with both of his entries in “Kamikaze” (43 to 41) and his collection “Curtain Call: The Hits” (47 to 44), with further barely-rising best of sets being for Green Day (76 to 75) and Bon Jovi (stable at #87).
* The debut set and former No.1 for Conrad Sewell called “LIFE” rebounds thirteen spots to No.48.
* Jonas Brothers see their first rise up the charts with “Happiness Begins”, back up six to No.50 this week.
* Both entries for The Wiggles rise back up two places each, with their 52nd album “Party Time!” climbing to No.60 and their long-running “The Best of” (156 weeks) up to No.78.
* Last weeks debut of the soundtrack for Season 3 of ‘Stranger Things’ is this week up four places to a new peak of No.69, while the first season soundtrack (HP-51) returns to the chart at No.89, with further film albums returning for ‘Frozen’ (#84) and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1′ (#86).
* Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction” rebounds nine spots to No.83.
* The two further returning albums this week are the second set for Adele “21” (#93) and “Damn.” (#100) by Kendrick Lamar.
DOWN:
* There are six albums leaving the Top 10 this week, first is one of last weeks returning sets “Free Spirit” (HP-2, WI10-13, 10 to #11) for Khalid, then the “7” EP (HP-5×2, WI10-3, 5 to #12) for Lil’ Nas X, “Indigo” (HP-3, WI10-2, 6 to #13) by Chris Brown, the soundtrack for the Queen biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (HP-1×3, WI10-31, 9 to 14), former No.1 set “Western Stars” (HP-1×1, WI10-4, 7 to #17) by Bruce Springsteen and last weeks highest new entry of “Revenge of the Dreams III” (HP-2, WI10-1, 2 to #22, #1 in America and Canada this week) by Dreamville and J. Cole, which has a twenty place plummet this week.
* Both Post Malone albums are down three places apiece this week in “Beerbongs & Bentleys” (12 to 15) and his older entry “Stoney” (39 to 42).
* Other soundtracks moving down this week are for ‘Yesterday’ (15 to 18), ‘The Greatest Showman’ (18 to 20), ‘Aladdin’ (22 to 30), ‘Rocketman’ (31 to 39) and ‘Moana’ (63 to 71).
* Three weeks ago Kylie Mingoue’s new collection “Step Back in Time” was the top selling set, this week it tumbles down fifteen places to No.26, with other sliding best of sets being for INXS (19 to 34), Queen (GH 42 to 43, Platinum Collection 75 to 81), Michael Hutchence (28 to 51), The Beatles (44 to 54), Maroon 5 (49 to 59), The Seekers (50 to 79), Foo Fighters (79 to 90) and The Killers (96 to 98).
* Jimmy Barnes’ “My Criminal Record” album drops down seven places to No.28.
* The Black Keys fall nine spots this week to No.32 with “Let’s Rock”.
* P!nk’s “Beautiful Trauma” plummets this week down thirty-one places to No.47.
* Apart from last weeks Michael Hutchence retrospective album, further sets to last for a second week includes “Hotel Diablo” for Machine Gun Kelly (26 to 52) and “Erys” for Jaden (34 to 74), while the highest dropout from the Top 100 this week is last weeks entry at #53, “Travelling Salesman” for Brad Butcher.
* With Adele’s second album returning this week, her third set “25” descends eighteen spots to No.55.
* There’s a twenty place fall for the Morgan Evans album “Things That We Drink to”, down to No.57.
* After rebounding to No.58 last week, this week the Ziggy Alberts set “Laps Around the Sun” falls back down seven places to No.65.
* Lee Kernaghan’s “Backroad Nation” slips down twelve places to No.67.
* Tyler, the Creator and his “Igor” set fall eight spots this week to land at No.76.
* The Hilltop Hoods “Drinking… Walking… Restrung” album drops down eleven places to No.80, while their latest album “The Great Expanse” is stable at No.35.
* Mustard and his “Perfect Ten” album falls sixteen places in it’s third chart week, down to No.88.
* Madonna’s “Madame X” claims a fifth week within the Top 100 this week, only down eight places to No.91.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #25 (LP#3) – III by Banks is the third studio album and also the third Top 30 chart entry in Australia for the American singer/songwriter, having previously charted with “Goddess” (LP#1, HP-17, mid-Sept, 2014) and “The Altar” (LP#2, HP-8, October 2016).
* #31 (LP#1) – Everything I Feel by Blake O’Connor is the debut album for local country singer and 18 year old who is now based in Port Macquarie in N.S.W. He issued his first self-titled EP in 2018 and then in January of this year he became the 40th winner of the ‘Toyota Star Maker’ competition, Australia’s longest running country music competition. He is currently touring the country until August 11th, all remaining shows will be in Queensland.
* #94 (Live#1) – MTV Unplugged (Live in Melbourne) by DMA’s is the first live album for the Sydney based trio and third overall albums chart entry, having previously charted with “Hills End” (LP#1, HP-8, March 2016) and “For Now” (LP#2, HP-7, May 2018), while this album has also charted in England this week (#65).
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
