Australia has a new No.1 single this week, the debut solo song for former One Direction member Harry Styles, with his first entry “Sign of the Times” coming straight in at No.1, becoming the 114th song to debut at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart.
“Sign of the Times” becomes the 1061st No.1 single in Australia (1940-2017), the 1001st Weekly No.1 (Jan 1949 to 2017) and the 496th for ARIA (1983 to 2017), plus only the third chart-topping song for 2017, and since October 17th in 2016 we have only had No.1 songs from English acts (James Arthur, Clean Bandit and Ed Sheeran), so for the past 27 weeks (over half-a-year) we’ve had only artists from the UK claiming the No.1 spot here. The song so far has only debuted at the top here, England and Scotland.
Harry Styles is on the Columbia record label, and this becomes their 115th No.1 single (since November 1940), with James Arthur and “Say You Won’t Let Go” being their last. This is only the third song to feature the word ‘Sign’ to hit No.1, the other two were two weeks away from hitting the top in the past, “The Sign” by Ace of Base (from 1st May, 1994, 4 wks) and then “Signs” for Snoop Dogg (from 2nd May, 2005 for 2 wks); and it’s the twelfth for some ‘Time’, but more specifically the third with ‘Times’ the other two were “Knock Three Times” by Dawn (29th March, 1971, 1 wk) and “Three Times a Lady” for The Commodores (from 30th October, 1978 for 5 wks). This is also the first time that a song entitled “Sign of the Times” has either hit No.1 or even the Top 10. The first of these was Petula Clark and “A Sign of the Times” (HP-11, peaked mid-May 1966) then The Belle Stars with “Sign of the Times” (HP-45, peaked early June 1983) and finally Prince with “Sign O’ the Times” (HP-29, peaked May 1987).
Fourteen months ago we saw the first ex-1D member claim a No.1 single in Zayn with “Pillowtalk” (8th Feb, 2016 for 1 wk), and now Harry Styles becomes the 44th English Solo Male Artists to claim a No.1 here, plus the 124th No.1 by an English Act (solo, duo or group), and the song is the 203rd chart-topping single by an English Artist.
So after an amazing thirteen weeks at No.1 Ed Sheeran slips down a place to No.2 with “Shape of You”, which still lays claim to the longest running No.1 this decade and during this century. Plus last weeks No.2 entry for Ed in “Galway Girl” is only down two places this week to No.4, giving him two songs within the Top 10 this week, as his ‘Castle’ slips out of the ten.
The Chainsmokers debut album enters within the Top 5 over on the Albums chart this week, and the new set’s second release “Something Just Like This” featuring Coldplay is on hold at No.3, whilst down one place to No.5 are Zedd and Alessia Cara with “Stay” and rising back up two places to No.6 is Lorde and her “Green Light”, both the Zedd and the Lorde tracks crack a new certification of Gold (●) in sales.
Slipping down a place each are Kendrick Lamar with “Humble” (which debuted last week), Bruno Mars and “That’s What I Like” plus Kygo and Selena Gomez with “It Ain’t Me” to number seven, eight and ten respectively. The second song to enter the Top 10 this week is the Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson teaming entitled “Symphony”, which climbs five places to a new peak of No.9, giving both Clean Bandit and Zara their third Top 10 entries in Australia.
UP:
* US rapper Future scores his first Top 20 placing this week as “Mask Off” climbs two places to a new peak of No.20, with his duet with Rihanna in “Selfish” surpasses its former peak of No.39 and climbs six spots to a new peak of No.37.Plus he re-enters at No.100 on the Ariana Grande track “Everyday” (HP-96).
* Last weeks debut for Calvin Harris in “Heatstroke” is up one place to a new peak of No.23, whilst his other chart entry “Slide” is stable at No.13.
* Dean Lewis returned to the chart last week at No.50 with his track “Waves” which this week crashes up the chart twenty-five places to land at a new chart height of No.25.
* Jason DeRulo with Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign break into the Top 30, up five to No.29 with “Swalla”.
* Martin Jensen rises six places to a new peak of No.40 with his “Solo Dance” track.
* With their debut album entering high this week, former No.1 “Closer” for The Chainsmokers and Halsey (who debuts with a new single too) is back up six places to No.41, plus this song is NOT on the new album.
* After climbing a single place for the past three weeks, this week Kyle with Lil’ Yachty and “iSpy” leap up seventeen spots to land at No.42.
* Kaleo leaps up twelve places to a new peak of No.58 with “Way Down We Go” after debuting at No.70 last week.
* “How Far I’ll Go” by Auli’i Cravalho is back up two places to No.70, but also from the ‘Moana’ soundtrack is the Dwayne Johnson entry “You’re Welcome” which jumps back up fifteen to No.84.
* Post Malone crawl out of the Top 90 and rise eight places to a new peak of No.75 with their first entry “Congratulations”.
DOWN:
* Two songs leave the Top 10 this week, “Passionfruit” (HP-4, WI10-2) for Drake, down six places to No.11 and Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill” (HP-8×2, WI10-13) which leaves the Top 10 for the first time and is down two to No.12.
* After three weeks at No.12, the Jax Jones track “You Don’t Know Me” is down three to No.15.
* Katy Perry drops five spots to No.22 with “Chained to the Rhythm”. its first week outside of the Top 20 after two months within it.
* After peaking at No.20 last week, the Zayn track “Still Got Time” drops eight to No.28 this week.
* The Weeknd and Daft Punk’s second collaboration and Top 10 entry in “I Feel it Coming” is down five to No.31 and newly certified 2x▲Platinum in sales.
* Further Ed Sheeran drops this week come from “Perfect” (28 to 35), “Happier” (35 to 44), “Dive” (33 to 49), “Supermarket Flowers” (58 to 66), “What Do I Know?” (57 to 68), “New Man” (61 to 72), “How Would You Feel (Paean)” (64 to 76), “Nancy Mulligan” (77 to 83), “Barcelona” (79 to 90) and finally “Thinking Out Loud”, which is down four to No.93 and racking up its 123rd week within the Top 100, equalling the previous best record set by Vance Joy with “Riptide”.
* Even though the new single for The Chainsmokers entitled “The One” is on their debut album, it falls back down seven places this week to No.43.
* Stargate with Pink and Sia are down ten places to No.50 with “Waterfall”.
* Andy Grammer leaves the Top 50 for the first time this week during 2017, as “Fresh Eyes” is down eight to No.52.
* After debuting at No.49 last week, the Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato teaming “No Promises” drops back down eight to No.57.
* After a rise last week the Rag’N’Bone Man track “Human” is back down twenty-five places to No.63.
* Tumbling ten places to No.77 are Milky Chance in their “Cocoon”.
* Ariana Grande and John Legend’s remake of “Beauty and the Beast” (HP-64) falls sixteen spots to No.98.
NEW ENTRIES:
* #21 – Now or Never by Halsey is the lead single from her June 2nd due second album entitled ‘Hopeless Fountain Kingdom’, and it becomes her second highest chart appearance and also her sixth Top 100 entry overall. Her previous best effort is sitting at No.41 this week, the former No.1 with The Chainsmokers in “Closer”.
* #61 – Die with You by Beyonce was originally recorded and released in 2015 as a seventh wedding anniversary present to her husband Jay-Z, now for their ninth anniversary she has released it as again to chart action, becoming her 42nd Top 100 chart entry.
* #81 – Ain’t Your Girl by Beatz are a Sydney three-piece female RnB/Hip-Hop act featuring Brooke, Elishia and Tayla-Grace who formed in late 2013, with this being their first chart entry.
* #91 – The Preview (EP) by Stanaj, the fifth and final entry this week to come in at a #1 position (#1, #21, #61 and #81) is by a US singer whose first EP (this one) was released overseas back in August of 2016 and he is currently on tour with JoJo throughout the US until late May.
* #97 – Rockabye Baby by Joey Bada$$ feat ScHoolboy Q. is the first entry for the US rapper Joey Bada$$ (real name Jo-Vaughn Virgine Scott) and is taken from his second album “All-Amerikkkan Bada$$” which came in at No.19 this week. This song contains a sample of “Blue Stone” by Janko Nilovic threaded throughout it.
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
