Michael Buble caps off a massive decade for his album “Christmas” by claiming the last No.1 berth for the year and the decade, as his set rises two places and returns for fifteenth overall week and sixth run at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart.
“Christmas” was the 638th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2011) when it first the top in 2011, and the 489th for ARIA (1983 to 2011), and this is now it’s sixth appearance at No.1 having first spent five weeks at the top in 2011, then four more weeks at the summit in 2012, followed by three weeks at the end of 2013, while for a fourth year in a row he made it to the top in 2014, albeit for a single week. After that his set returned to the top in the first week of 2017 (2nd of Jan, sales were reflective of the Xmas period) and now this week the album makes it back to the top for an overall fifteenth week at the summit in Australia, and this is the first year we’ve had two No.1 Christmas themed albums, as Robbie Williams’ “The Christmas Present” spent a week at the top on December 9th.
This return to the top for Michael Buble increases his tally of weeks at No.1 to now 33 weeks from five No.1 albums, moving him up on the listing of ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums’ from equal twelfth tied with Delta Goodrem to now outright eleventh, one place behind Jimmy Barnes’ 34 weeks (from 12 albums). For this decade Michael is still stable at No.4 with 23 weeks racked up during the 2010’s, and the only artist with 20+ weeks at the summit for the past ten years, ahead of him is Pink (32 weeks) and way behind him all stuck at 16 weeks are Eminem, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Plus eleven tracks from this album all land within the Top 100 singles this week and the album also scores a new Top 5 single in “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” (TW-4).
Last weeks No.1 debut and second album for Harry Styles and “Fine Line” is down one spot to No.2 here and remains for a second week at the top in New Zealand, while also debuting at the summit in the U.S.A. and Canada (also his second #1 in both locales), after which is a string of recent and former No.1 albums in Robbie Williams and “The Christmas Present” (2 to No.3), a re-packaged (with three extra tracks) Billie Eilish album in “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go” (12 to No.4, 37th week within the Top 10), Cold Chisel’s “Blood Moon” (4 to No.5) and stable at No.6 (for a sixth week in the chart) is the Paul Kelly collection “Songs from the South: Greatest Hits 1985 – 2019”.
The soundtrack for “Frozen 2” is down two spots to No.7, while the third and final seasonal set within the Top 10 for this year is the 1994 Mariah Carey set “Merry Christmas”, which flies up eight places to land at No.8, and yule-tide-logging it’s overall fifth week within the Top 10, having previously been within the T10 in 1994 (3 weeks, peaked at No.2) and then last year in 2018 (1 week at No.9), plus the album again has the No.1 single in the country in “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Tones and I is back up one spot to No.9 with her debut EP “The Kids are Coming” and swapping places (again) with Ed Sheeran’s “No.6 Collaborations Project”, which is down one spot to No.10.
CHRISTMAS TITLES:
* As a large majority of movers and climbers this week are seasonal sets, I thought I’d get them out of the way first to see what else is moving on the charts too.
* Human Nature are stable at No.19 with their set “The Christmas Album”.
* This is followed three places lower by the soundtrack for “Last Christmas”, down one spot to No.22, but the title track has returned to it former 1984 No.3 peak this week for Wham!.
* 2016’s No.1 (for 2 weeks) seasonal set for John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John “Friends for Christmas” is stable at No.23 this week.
* Pentatonix score another new peak with their set “The Best of Pentatonix Christmas”, which this week rises thirteen places to score a new chart height of No.25.
* Bing Crosby almost reclaims his former peak of No.30 with “Bing at Christmas”, the set is back up eight places to No.31.
* The Seekers’ “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” halves its position from last week and drops twenty-seven spots to No.54.
* David Campbell’s “Baby its Christmas” climbs up twelve places to No.59.
* Jumping up ten places to a new peak of No.70 is the compilation “Christmas with the Stars and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra”.
* Returning to the chart this week is the Mark Vincent album “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (#81, HP-16).
UP:
* Elton John’s current national tour helps his collection of “Diamonds” to rise five to No.12, while his classic set “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” is up three to No.51 and the soundtrack to his biopic “Rocketman” jumps up twenty places to No.56.
* ARIA Award winners The Teskey Brothers rebound nine places to No.17 with “Run Home Slow”, with their previous set “Half Mile Harvest” recouping thirteen spots to No.48.
* Jessica Mauboy’s “Hilda” has been Xmas-advertised for the past few weeks and is back up to No.20.
* With a pending Cold Chisel tour (starts Dec 31st in Perth) their hits set “The Best: All for You” jumps back up seven spots to No.21, with other rising best of sets being for Queen (GH 48 to No.34, Platinum Collection 77 to No.58), INXS (42 to No.36), Eminem (81 to No.65), The Killers (94 to No.74), ABBA (returns at No.88), The Beatles (returns at No.89), Bon Jovi (returns at No.90), Red Hot Chili Peppers (returns at No.93) and The Foo Fighters (returns at No.98).
* The Beatles were sitting at No.1 this week fifty years ago on the Australian Albums Chart with “Abbey Road”, which this week is back up twelve places to No.24.
* The soundtrack for Queen’s biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was about to go to No.1 at this time in 2018 (it would go to No.1 in the first week of Jan., 2019), and this week it is back up eight spots to No.26, with other climbing soundtracks being for the No.1 album this week last year in ‘A Star is Born’ (45 to No.30), ‘The Greatest Showman’ (51 to No.50, debuted next week in 2018), ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1’ (73 to No.53), ‘Rocketman’ (76 to No.56), ‘Frozen’ (72 to No.64) and returning at No.82 is the 1994 No.4 set for “Pulp Fiction’.
* Pink rebounds eight spots to No.35 with “Hurts 2B Human”.
* Triple J’s “Like a Version Vol.15” is back up six to No.38.
* Billie Eilish not only rises back up with her debut album, but her EP “Don’t Smile at Me” is back up eleven places to No.41.
* The Hilltop Hoods’ “The Great Expanse” set climbs six to No.44.
* After returning last week at No.63 the “Igor” album for Tyler, the Creator is up ten places to No.53.
* Lana Del Rey jumps up seventeen places to No.57 with her set “Norman F**king Rockwell”.
* Guns N’ Roses 1988 set “Appetite for Destruction” rebounds a massive thirty-four spots to No.66.
* Andrea Bocelli’s repacked “Si Forever” climbs back up nine places to No.69.
* Taylor Swift’s two older entries rebound this week in “1989” (82 to No.73) and “Reputation” (97 to No.79).
* Further returning albums not mentioned include “Kick” for INXS (#83), “Backroad Nation” by Lee Kernaghan (#86), “Tapestry” by Carole King (#92), “Go Farther in Lightness” by Gang of Youths (#94), “Map of the Soul” Persona” by BTS (#97) and “Love Monster” for Amy Shark (#100).
DOWN:
* Two albums leave the Top 10 this week in the current UK No.1 album for a third week for Rod Stewart and “You’re in My Heart” (HP-3, WI10-3a) down four to No.11 and the Human Nature set “Still Telling Everybody: 30 Years of Hits” (HP-3, WI10-4) down six places to No.14 and its first week outside of the Top 10.
* Post Malone’s two former No.1 albums are both down this week in his most recent “Hollywood’s Bleeding” (15 to No.18) and more so for “Beerbongs & Bentleys” (41 to No.47), while his first set “Stoney” is up one spot to No.87.
* Last weeks No.11 debut for Stormzy with “Heavy is the Head” is this week down seventeen places to No.28.
* Camila Cabello’s second album “Romance” falls nine spots to No.29.
* Celine Dion’s “Courage” album drops down eight places this week to No.39.
* After a re-packaged burst back up the charts last week, this week the Tool set “Fear Inoculum” is back down twenty-one spots to No.45.
* Leonard Cohen tumbles down twenty-four places from No.25 to No.49 with “Thanks for the Dance”.
* Both Khalid entries fall again this week with “Free Spirit” down nine to No.55 and his first set “American Teen” only down one place to No.80.
* The Chainsmokers third album “World War Joy” drops down fourteen spots this week to No.61.
* Kylie Mingoue’s “Golden – Live in Concert” is down thirteen places this week to No.68 (someone should have screened ‘Kylie: Secret Night’ with Alan Carr this past week, but it only played in England {missed opportunity Warner}).
* Drake’s “Scorpion” slips down eleven spots to No.76.
* The Pink Floyd box set “The Later Years 1987-2019” drops down twenty places to No.78.
* The XXXTentacion album “?” declines fifteen places to No.85.
* Eminem’s “Kamikaze” dives down seven spot to No.96.
* Leaving the Top 100 from last weeks Top 50 is local act Furnace & The Fundamentals and their seasonal slap-stick covers album “A Very Furnace Christmas” from No.29, while further entries from last week to leave this week are by Kaytranada (#53) and Blake Shelton (#95).
NEW ENTRY:
* #32 (St’k) – Cats: Highlights from the Soundtrack is the only new entry this week with the film just opening in cinemas this past week. The original stage recording from the West End (UK) production charted here from July of 1985 reaching No.19 in late September and spending half-a-year on the charts, after which the Australian cast recording album made it to No.44 in early October of 1985, then both cast recordings returned to the chart in late March of 1989, local edition making it No.81 and UK recording climbing to No.61, both peaking in late April, 1989. This new edition is a live-action CGI film with a massive cast including Dame Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Jason DeRulo, James Corden, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen and Rebel Wilson among the cast, with Jennifer Hudson singing the standout song from the film in “Memory”.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
