The second album for local singer/songwriter Tash Sultana called “Terra Firma” becomes her first No.1 album this week as it debuts in the top spot.
“Terra Firma” by Tash Sultana (Lonely Lands/Sony) is the 908th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2021), the 758th for ARIA (1983 to 2021), the seventh No.1 album for 2021 and the first for her record label ‘Lonely Lands’, while she is also the first female artist at the top since Taylor Swift’s ‘evermore’ held over from 2020 for the first two weeks of this year. This also becomes Tash’s third Top 10 berth after her second EP “Notion” (HP-8, Oct. 2016) and her first album “Flow State” (HP-2, Sept. 2018).
This is the first time that the words ‘Terra’ and ‘Firma’ have appeared in a No.1 album title, with the only other charted “Terra Firma” being for Phil & Tommy Emmanuel, which hit No.12 in March of 1995. Of the eight No.1 albums for this year, six (five fully local) Aussie’s have hit No.1, with this new entry becoming the sixth after The Rubens, The Kid Laroi, Bluey, Illy and Barry Gibb (the former Aussie). Overall this new No.1 album by a local artist becomes the 256th to hit the top here (since the first in 1968), while Tash Sultana becomes the 122nd Australian Artist (solo, duo, group, male or female) to score a No.1 album locally. The last local solo female artist to hit No.1 in Australia was Kylie Minogue with “DISCO” on November 16th, 2020, and overall this is now the 139th No.1 Album by a Solo Female Artist (local or overseas), and Tash becomes the 16th Solo Australian Female Artist to hit No.1, since Olivia Newton-John was the first in 1978, 1980 and 1983 (the first two were soundtrack appearances on ‘Grease’ and ‘Xanadu’).
The next two albums are repackaged editions of the original albums, with last weeks repacked flier for Dua Lipa and “Future Nostalgia (Moonlight Edition)” this week up one spot to No.2, followed by the new ‘Deluxe Edition’ of “Positions” for Ariana Grande which leaps back up twenty-nine spots to land at No.3, with the set now featuring five extra tracks/remixes and it gives the album its seventh week within the Top 10 and its second week during 2021 for a Top 10 appearance (#10 on 11-Jan-21).
Four albums within the Top 10 are on hold this week, and up next are three of them; with “F**k Love (mixtape)” / “Savage (EP)” for The Kid Laroi, “The Highlights” by The Weeknd and “Fine Line” by Harry Styles all non-movers this week at No.4, No.5 and No.6 respectively, while the fourth and final on-hold-LP is at No.8 for Pop Smoke and “Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon”.
The only dropping album within the Top 10 this week is down five places to No.7, the Foo Fighters latest entry “Medicine at Midnight”. Returning to the Top 100 this at No.9 is the ‘Anniversary Edition’ of the last BTS album “BE”, giving the album its third overall week within the Top 10 and it’s first chart entry since leaving the Top 100 on January 25th, 2021 after an initial eight weeks of chart, peaking at No.2 upon entry. The fourth entry and second NEW entry to the Top 10 this week is the 15th studio album for local country artist Adam Harvey called “Songs from Highway One”, which by entering at No.10 this week becomes his sixth Top 10 album in Australia and also his thirteenth overall chart entry (12 studios and 1 Best of), with his last entry being August 2018’s “The Nashville Tapes” (HP-9).
UP:
TOP 20: Three country (themed) albums climb back up within the Top 20, the current U.S. (6th week) and Canadian (returns for a 5th week) No.1 Album for Morgan Wallen and “Dangerous: The Double Album” is back up to No.12, followed by Luke Combs’ “What You See is What You Get” (17 to No.13) and after leaving the Top 10 last week the Barry Gibb “Songbook” set rebounds six spots to No.16. Rising back up five places to No.19 is the Fleetwood Mac “Rumours” album.
TOP 30: Elton John’s “Diamonds” collection rises again this week, up three to No.22, while the past week saw the announcement of French dance duo Daft Punk officially splitting up, which has seen their last studio album “Random Access Memories” (HP-1×2, peaked late May 2013) return to the chart at No.24. Lewis Capaldi’s debut album rises four to No.25, Maroon 5’s “Singles Collection” is also up four to No.27 and AC/DC’s “Power Up” resurges back up twelve places to No.29.
TOP 40: Post Malone issued a new song on Friday, a cover of the 1995 Hootie & the Blowfish track “Only Wanna Be With You” for the ‘Pokemon 25th Anniversary’, and he also sees his older album “Hollywood’s Bleeding” rise back up three spots to No.32, while collections for Eminem (38 to No.34) and INXS (42 to No.38) along with ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack (48 to No.40) also move back up the chart this week.
TOP 50: Ed Sheeran’s only current Top 50 entry in his duets set “No.6 Collaborations Project”, which is back up five spots to No.41, followed by climbers from below the Top 50 from last week for Halsey and “Manic” (52 to No.46), Green Day’s Best of (57 to No.47, they also issued a new track on Friday), Doja Cat (53 to No.48) and Polo G with “The Goat” (54 to No.50), which is the same position his albums’ singles entry “Martin & Gina” is sitting at over on that chart.
DOWN:
TOP 20: One of the four album dropouts this week falls into the Top 20 chart region, with “evermore” (HP-1×4, WI10-10) by Taylor Swift down two places to No.11 and leaving the Top 10 for the first time in its eleven week chart run, while the only other Top 20 dropping album is Taylor’s previous album to this one in “folklore”, down a spot to No.20.
TOP 30: Last week’s No.1 album for The Rubens called “0202” (HP-1, WI10-1) drops a massive twenty places this week to land at No.21. The only two other slipping albums here are two places drops for both The Weeknd’s “After Hours” (21 to No.23) and “Tickets to My Downfall” by Machine Gun Kelly (26 to No.28).
TOP 40: Lime Cordiale’s “14 Steps to a Better You” falls five to No.33, with single place drops occurring here for Miley Cyrus’s “Plastic Hearts” (30 to No.31), “?” for XXXTentacion (34 to No.35) and “1989” by Taylor Swift (36 to No.37), which is backed with her “Lover” set up one spot to No.36.
TOP 50: The second and final album to score a second week within the Top 50 after debuting last week is UK rapper Slowthai with his second set “Tyron”, which plummets thirty-one spots this week to land at No.42, and it’s the only declining album within this chart region. Two of last weeks entries which leave to land within the lower fifty this week are Luca Brasi with “Everything is Tenuous” (#7) and “Chasing Ghosts” for The Amity Affliction (#10), while new entries from last week for Sia (#12), The Pretty Reckless (#15) and Spacey Jane (#23) all leave the Top 50 this week after entering or returning last week.
NO FURTHER NEW ENTRIES THIS WEEK.
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*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 19th to the 25th of February, 2021.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
