Two weeks after the initial concert for Fire Relief on March 12th, 2020, the accompanying album called “Artists Unite for Fire Fight: Concert for National Bushfire Relief” debuts at No.1 on the ARIA Albums chart.
“Artists Unite for Fire Fight” becomes the 872nd No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2020), the 722nd for ARIA (1983 to 2020), the 511th to debut at No.1 and the tenth for 2020, while it also becomes the 26th for the Sony Record label and their first (direct title) since “Hilda” for Jessica Mauboy (28-Oct-2019). The new album was NOT issued on digital streaming services and all of its sales are due to physical copies of the double album being sold, the set featuring acts such as Delta Goodrem, Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, Pete Murray, Daryl Braithwaite, Illy, Tina Arena, Amy Shark, 5SOS, Icehouse, John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John and Hilltop Hoods alongside international acts like Ronan Keating, Michael Buble, Alice Cooper, k.d. Lang and Queen with Adam Lambert among its 23 tracks.
The new No.1 album also becomes the 29th Various Artists compilation to make it to No.1 in Australia since the first in September of 1981 (it’s the 24th for the ARIA charts), with the previous five No.1 compilations being Triple J ‘Like a Version’ albums from volume 9 through to volume 13 (2013 to 2017) and only the second Australian-specific compile to hit the top, the other was almost 20 years ago with the 27th Olympiad album hitting the top for three weeks (25-Sept.-2000). This is the first time that the words ‘Artists’, ‘Unite’ and ‘Fight’ have appeared in a No.1 album title, but the sixth with ‘Fire’ in the title, the last two occurred in 2013 with “Holy Fire” for Foals (1 week on 18th of Feb., 2013) and “March Fires” for Birds of Tokyo (1 week on March 11th, 2013).
The second solo album for former One Direction member Niall Horan debuts at No.2 this week called “Heartbreak Weather”, with the set becoming his first No.1 album in his native England this week too. It’s the same position that his debut solo set “Flicker” achieved in late October of 2017, that first entry logged three weeks within the Top 10 and had several successful singles issued from it prior to its release, whereas this new set has had one Top 60 single and a few small entries, but no big hits as yet, but he did perform a lot of the album the week of its release on the James Corden ‘The Late, Late Show’ (10th to 14th of March, 2020).
Niall is the second former 1D member to join Harry Styles in the Top 10 this year, as Louis Tomlinson did so for a week back in mid-February with “Walls” (HP-6), now Harry is still within the Top 10 and back up one spot to No.3 with his second album “Fine Line”, helped back up thanks to his recent Nov. 2020 national tour announcement, with the album swapping places with the Billie Eilish set “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go”, down one to No.4, followed by last weeks No.1 debuting album for Lil’ Uzi Vert and “Eternal Atake”, which falls four spots to No.5 and is also the new Albums chart-leader in both Canada and the U.S.A. this week.
The fifteenth studio album for local country singer Adam Brand is called “Speed of Life”, and it comes in at No.6 this week becoming his seventh Top 10 album locally and his third to peak at No.6, as his last entry and third compilation “Milestones… 20 Years” debuted and peaked at No.6 (23rd of July, 20018), while he also hit No.6 with his 13th set “Adam Brand & The Outlaws” (January 2016), plus this is also his fifth Top 10 album in a row since 2014.
The recent No.1 album by BTS and “Map of the Soul: 7” drops down five spots to land at its namesake of No.7, with the other falling album being Justin Bieber’s “Changes”, down three places to No.9. In between and around those two albums are two more new entries, as coming in at No.8 is this weeks No.1 selling vinyl album and the second studio and Top 10 album for Melbourne nu-metal act Ocean Grove called “Flip Phone Fantasy”, as their debut set “The Rhapsody Tapes” made it to No.5 upon entry in February of 2017, while they initially charted with their second EP called “Black Label” (HP-50, June 2015). The fifth and final Top 10 entry this week is the third album for local female country singer Fanny Lumsden from Tallimba in NSW, whose album “Fallow” comes in at No.10, becoming her first Top 10 placement and her second overall entry, as her second set “Real Class Act” debuted and peaked at No.23 in early October of 2017.
UP:
* The first album outside of the Top 10 to climb up the charts is down at No.33, as the now two year old entry for XXXTentation and “?” is back up five spots.
* This is followed at No.34 by a re-entry for the 1988 issued Def Leppard album “Hysteria” thanks to limited edition orange vinyl version of the album.
* The previous Tame Impala album “Currents” re-enters at No.40 thanks to the album containing this weeks highest entry of “The Less I Know the Better” being voted the No.1 song of the 2010’s in the recent Triple J poll, that song returns to the chart at a new peak of No.17 this week.
* Zooming back up into the Top 50 is the Guns N’ Roses set “Appetite for Destruction” to No.41.
* The Arctic Monkeys’ previous album “AM” returns to the chart this week at No.45.
* The Killers’ collection “Direct Hits” jumps back up into the fifty, landing at No.46 this week.
* Finally the Hilltop Hoods set “Drinking… Walking… Restrung” rebounds to No.50.
DOWN:
* With five albums debuting within the Top 10 this week, that means five must move down, the first of which is Post Malone with “Hollywood’s Bleeding” (HP-1, WI10-22) down four to No.11, followed by last weeks new entry for LAUV and “~How I’m Feeling~” (HP-5, WI10-1) dropping seven to No.12, and leaving the ten for the time are both the Eminem set “Music to Be Murdered by” (HP-1, WI10-9, 9 to No.13) and “The Slow Rush” for Tame Impala (HP-1, WI10-4, 10 to No.16), and finally plummeting eleven spots to No.19 is the Elton John collection “Diamonds” (HP-3, WI10-27).
* Three soundtracks drop down this week in ‘Frozen 2’ (13 to No.15), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (22 to No.28) and ‘The Greatest Showman’ (39 to No.43). With the current state of the world, we might not see too many high flying soundtracks again for awhile, like the new ‘Trolls: World Tour’ set (their previous album was a No.1 set for three weeks).
* After leaving the Top 10 for the first three weeks ago, this week the Ed Sheeran fourth album “No.6 Collaborations Project” is down five to No.17, while his third set “÷ (Divide)” drops five spots to No.17, with that album logging its third week at No.1 this week in 2017 and its 25th week (of 27) in 2018.
* Lewis Capaldi falls down seven places to No.21 with his debut set “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”.
* Both Luke Combs albums moves down this week, with his latest “What You See is What You Get” sliding eight to No.23 and his two year old entry “This One’s for You” down five to No.25.
* There’s a seven place slide for both “Manic” by Halsey and “Hot Pink for Doja Cat to No.24 and No.26 respectively.
* Post Malone also drops down with his two older album this week (all three rose up last week), as “Beerbongs & Bentleys” dips six spots to No.27 and “Stoney” declines five to No.47.
* The Billie Eilish EP “Don’t Smile at Me” along with the self-titled Dua Lipa album are both down seven spots to No.30 and No.31 respectively.
* Dean Lewis’ debut album “A Place We Knew” hits the one-year mark (52 weeks) and is down four to No.32.
* Lizzo tumbles down eleven spots to No.37 with her “Cuz I Love You” set.
* Five Finger Death Punch sees a twenty place tumble to No.38 with their recent No.2 set “F8”.
* The Chainsmokers’ “World War Joy” drops down seven spots to No.42.
* Ozzy Osbourne’s first ever Top 10 album in Australia in “Ordinary Man” is this week down seventeen spots to No.48.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #14 (LP#3) – Juveniles by Kingswood is the third studio album and entry for the Melbourne alt-rock band, and their first NOT to enter within the Top 10, as they previously charted with “Microscopic Wars” (LP#1, HP-6, Sept., 2014) and then “After Hours, Close to Dawn” (LP#2, HP-10, March 2017).
* #20 (LP#1) – Heaven or Hell by Don Toliver is the debut solo album for the American rapper from Houston, Texas, and it features his January 2020 peaking entry “No Idea” (HP-43, peaked in the first two weeks of the year), plus he is/was a part of the Jackboys self-titled album from January which debuted and peaked at No.5.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
