The Hilltop Hoods’ eighth studio album “The Great Expanse” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums chart this week, becoming the trios sixth No.1 album in Australia as they tour the country with Eminem as his support act.
“The Great Expanse” is now the 843rd No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2019), plus the 694th for ARIA (1983 to 2019), and re-arranging the 843, the album is also the 483rd set to debut at No.1 since the first in 1976. The Hilltop Hoods last hit the top exactly three years ago (29-Feb, 2016) with “Drinking from the Sun, Walking Under Stars, Restrung” (1 week), while they also went to No.1 with “The Hard Road” (1 wk on 10-April, 2006), “State of the Art” (2 wks, 22-June, 2009), “Drinking from the Sun” (2 wks, 19-March, 2012) and “Walking Under Stars” (2 wks, 18-August, 2014).
The Hilltop Hoods become one of just four acts to have racked up six No.1 albums in Australia (and the only local act too) alongside Michael Jackson, Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers, while their tally of weeks at No.1 has now increased to nine weeks, moving them on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2019)’ to now 75th (up from 83rd) just ahead of Powderfinger and Kylie Minogue (both 9 weeks from 5 #1’s), while on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums; 2010’s’ they climb to ninth (6 weeks from four #1’s this decade).
This is the first time that the word ‘Expanse’ has appeared in a No.1 album title, and only the second ‘Great’ after the February 1980 collection for Creedence called “20 Golden Greats”. This is the first No.1 this year by an Australian, and overall this is the 229th No.1 album by an Australian act (solo, duo or group), plus the 376th by a group (local or overseas) , and The Hilltop Hoods are now the only Aussie BAND to have six No.1 albums, beating the five achieved by Powderfinger and AC/DC, while the only Australian acts with more chart-topping albums are The Twelfth Man (7 #1’s), John Farnham (10 #1’s) and Jimmy Barnes (11 #1’s).
So after two weeks at the top the Ariana Grande album “thank u, next” drops down one place to No.2 here, while it remains on top for a third week in England and New Zealand and a second week in both America and Canada. The two big movie/musical winners at The Oscars this past week see their soundtracks sitting back to back this week, with ‘A Star is Born’ holding at No.3 and also picking up a 2x▲Platinum sales certification, while Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ set slips down two spots to No.4, but they do hold down the next two spots also with their “Greatest Hits” and “Platinum Collection” stable at No.5 and No.6 respectively.
The soundtrack for ‘The Greatest Showman’ is back up one spot to No.7 after Hugh Jackman this past week announced a world tour for himself this year, while current tourist to our shores Eminem is up one spot to No.9 with his most recent album “Kamikaze”. Two further debuts to the Top 10 occur at No.8 with the second album for Sydney singer Julia Jacklin and “Crushing”, which becomes her first Top 10 album and second entry as her debut set “Don’t Let the Kids Win” made it to No.42 back in November of 2016. And lastly coming in at No.10 is the fourteenth studio album for U.S. prog-metal/rock act Dream Theater called “Distance Over Time”, which matches the peak of their only other Top 10 album here in “The Astonishing” (HP-10, February 2016), and overall this is the bands’ seventh chart entry here since their first appearance with “Octavarium” (LP#8, HP-81, June 2005).
UP:
* Eminem has eight albums within the Top 100 this week, the second of which is “Curtain Call: The Hits” which jumps up six places to No.11, while he also rises or returns with “The Eminem Show” (59 to 25), “Recovery” (92 to 46), giving him four albums within the Top 50, while lower down are “Revival” (returns at #66), his first set “Slip Shady LP” (returns at #74), “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” (returns at #86) and finally “Encore” (returns at #95).
* Ed Sheeran celebrates two years on the chart (104 weeks) with his third album “÷ (Divide)” back up to No.12.
* Red Hot Chili Peppers tour this past week helps boost their “Greatest Hits” album back up ten spots to No.19, while they return with “Californication” at No.98.
* Ziggy Alberts pedals up seven spots to No.26 with “Laps Around the Sun”.
* The new No.1 album and current support act for Eminem helps The Hilltop Hoods No.1 album from this week in 2016 rise, with “Drinking…Walking…Restrung” back up twelve places to No.36.
* Maroon 5 just finished their tour here, and their “Singles Collection” set rises a few places to No.40, while other climbing best of sets are by Elton John (Diamonds up 46 to 42, Rocket Man stable at #63), Pink (stable at #50), Troy Cassar-Daley (returns at #62), Guns N’ Roses (71 to 65) and ABBA (Gold & More 95 to 89, Gold 98 to 94).
* The ‘Black Panther’ film won quite a few awards this past week at The Oscars, and it’s soundtrack is back up to No.54 this week, with the only other rising (or returning) soundtrack being for ‘Forrest Gump’ (back in at #61 after being screened).
* The Arctic Monkeys are touring here also, and their previous album “AM” is back in at No.56.
* Sam Smith rises in both the singles chart and on the albums too, as his “Thrill of it All” set is up thirteen places to No.57.
* Adele’s “25” is back up to No.67, while her previous set “21” returns at #100.
* Imagine Dragons’ “Evolve” jumps back up eight places to No.73.
* “Queen” for Nicki Minaj is back up nine spots to No75.
* The Chainsmokers recent tour here pulls their current album, “Sick Boy” back up four spots to No.87.
DOWN:
* All three of last weeks Top 10 debuts leave from the ten this week, with “Can’t Say I Ain’t Country” (HP-7, WI10-1) by Florida Georgia Line down fifteen spots to No.22, followed by last weeks highest entry of “Stolen Diamonds” (HP-4, WI10-1) for The Cat Empire plummeting fifty-five spots to No.59 and even bigger still is the fifty-nine place slide to No.68 for Avril Lavigne and “Head Above Water” (HP-9, WI10-1).
* The second and final new albums certification this week is for the Billie Eilish set “Don’t Smile at Me” which is now Gold (●) in sales and is down two places to No.14.
* Travis Scott falls five spots to No.27 with his “Astroworld” set.
* Ariana Grande is back to only three albums in the Top 100 this week, with her second entry being her “Sweetener” set, down six to No.31 and her “Dangerous Woman” album drops down twenty to No.92.
* Sticky Fingers’ newer entry “Yours to Keep” falls down fifteen places to No.35, while their much older set “Caress Your Soul” falls twelve spots to No.88.
* Cardi B is back down eight places to No.38 with her debut album “Invasion of Privacy”.
* Rufus du Sol falls down eleven to No.39 with their set album “Solace”.
* Falling best of sets are by Cold Chisel (39 to 43), INXS (44 to 48), The Wiggles (67 to 70), Crowded House (74 to 79), Phil Collins (62 to 81), Missy Higgins (61 to 82) and Green Day (88 to 99).
* Amy Shark drops down nine places to No.47 with her “Love Monster” album.
* Bring Me the Horizon drop to just below the Top 50 horizon this week with “AMO”, down eighteen spots to No.49.
* Rita Ora is sitting at No.50 on the singles chart, while her “Phoenix” album is down eight places to land at No.51.
* The soundtrack for ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse’ is only down six places this week to No.55 as the film won an Oscar this past week for ‘Best Animated Feature’, while further dropping soundtracks are for ‘Molly’ (66 to 71) and ‘Moana’ (75 to 83).
* Shawn Mendes’ self-titled set falls again this week, down eleven spots to No.58.
* Vance Joy’s second set “Nation of Two” falls ten places to No.64.
* Jess Glynne’s second set “Always in Between” is down twelve places to No.69.
* The Khalid EP “Suncity” sets a further sixteen places this week, down to No.72.
* 21 Savage might have climbed up on the singles chart with “A Lot” (TW-51), but his parent album “I Am > I Was” falls down thirteen places to No.78.
* Ed Sheeran’s first set “+” falls sixteen spots to No.80.
* Elton John will not be touring Australia until late 2019, so expect his 1974 album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to rise back up the charts then, but for this week it is down thirteen spots to No.90.
* David Guetta’s “7” set falls down eleven chart rungs to No,.91.
* Two post tour drops occur for Keith Urban with “Graffiti U” (58 to 96) and Maroon 5’s “Red Pill Blues” (78 to 97).
* Five of last weeks debuting albums leave the chart this week, with the highest dropout being “Triage” for Methyl Ethel (#11), followed by “SOS” for Millencolin (#32), the 2009 EP or mixtape for Drake called “So Far Gone” (#34), Dear Seattle with “Don’t Let Go” (#45) and the Kiss collection “KissWorld – The Best of” (#60, which will most likely be back when they tour here in early June).
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #18 (LP#1) – Father of 4 by Offset is the debut album for U.S. rapper born Kiara Kendrell Cephus (in Dec 1991), who has charted previously alongside 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’ on their collaboration album “Without Warning” (HP-39, November 2017).
* #23 (LP#5) – This Land by Gary Clark Jr. is the fifth albums chart entry (3 studio and 2 live) for the Texas bluesman, and it also becomes his fourth Top 40 album, having last charted in late March of 2017 with “Live North America 2016” (HP-32).
* #29 (Mix#3) – While We Wait (mixtape) by Kehlani is the third mixtape from US female singer and now her second albums chart entry after her studio album “SweetSexySavage” hit No.32 in February of 2017, with this new set containing her current single “Nights Like This” (HP-41, TW-50 to 43).
* #33 (LP#2) – Harverd Dropout by Lil’ Pump is the second album and now first entry for the U.S. rapper born Gazzy Garcia (in 2000), and it features his two most recent chart entries in “I Love it” (HP-4, TW-99) and “Arms Around You” (HP-14).
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
