The seventh studio album for Taylor Swift called “Lover” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart this week, becoming her fifth straight No.1 album in Australia.
“Lover” becomes the 854th No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2019), the 704th for ARIA (1983 to 2019), the 494th album to debut at No.1 (since the first in 1976), the sixteenth No.1 album for 2019 with it being the fifth by a female artist, plus it also becomes the tenth No.1 album for the record label Republic and their second this year after Ariana Grande spent five broken weeks at the top between mid-February and late March of this year, plus its also Taylor’s first No.1 album away from her former label Big Machine.
As I mentioned before this is the fifth consecutive No.1 album for Taylor Swift in Australia after “Speak Now” (LP#3, 1 week on 8-Nov, 2010), “Red” (LP#4, 3 weeks from 29-Oct, 2012), “1989” (LP#5, 9 broken weeks from 3-Nov, 2014) and her last “Reputation” (LP#6, 2 weeks from 20-Nov, 2017). The last act to land five No.1 albums in a row were Coldplay between their second album from 2002 and their sixth album in 2014 (their 1st and 7th albums both peaked here at No.2).
Taylor Swift has now amassed sixteen weeks at No.1 on the ARIA Albums Chart from her five No.1 sets, moving her up on the list of ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums; 1965 to 2019′ from equal 42nd to now 37th, just ahead of INXS (16 weeks from 4 #1’s) and Lady Gaga (16 weeks from 3 #1’s), while she also ties with ten other acts who’ve also racked up five No.1’s albums in Australia such as Celine Dion, Neil Diamond, Silverchair, Powderfinger, Crowded House, Michael Buble, AC/DC, Olivia Newton-John, Kasey Chambers and the aforementioned Coldplay. On the same list for this decade (2010 to 2019) she is now equal fifth alongside Lady Gaga and Eminem (both 3 #1’s and 16 weeks this decade), so if Taylor holds again next week she will bypass these two acts’ totals, but her competition will be from the Tones and I debut EP, the new Tool album or even the latest from Lana Del Rey.
This is the first time that the word ‘Lover’ has appeared in a No.1 album title, with the previous highest charted ‘Lover’ being the title album of the trio Seeker, Lover, Keeper (HP-3) in June of 2011. Plus this new No.1 album is also the sixth by an American Act this year (solo, duo, group, male or female) after Slipknot (August), Bruce Springsteen (June), Pink (May), Billie Eilish (from April) and Ariana Grande (February), while overall this is the 301st by an American Act to hit the top here, plus also the 131st by a Solo Female Artist (local or overseas). On the tally of ‘Most Weeks at No.1: Female Solo U.S. Singer’ the board sits with Pink at the top (43 accumulated weeks), followed by Mariah Carey (20 weeks), Madonna (19 weeks) and then Taylor Swift (16 weeks) ties with Lady Gaga (16 weeks also) and then Whitney Houston (14 weeks).
After going back to No.1 last week the Ed Sheeran duets album “No.6 Collaborations Project” is back down a spot to No.2, but it does scores its first (of many to come) sales certification this week, achieving Gold (●) in sales, the only new Top 100 Albums chart cert this week. This is followed by the second of three Top 10 debuts this week, coming in at No.3 is the fifth studio album called “Ginger” for U.S. rap collective Brockhampton, with this now becoming their second Top 10 and Albums Chart entry here, as their fourth set “Iridescence” hit No.6 in early October of 2018.
Billie Eilish is back up one spot to No.4 with her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”, with the recent No.1 set for Slipknot and “We Are Not Your Kind” is down two places to No.5. After which are three stable albums in the soundtrack for ‘A Star is Born’, “Run Home Slow” for The Teskey Brothers and the collection “Diamonds” by Elton John at No.6, No.7 and No.8 respectively. Ed Sheeran’s previous album “÷ (Divide)” is back up one spot to No.9 (106th week within the Top 10). Coming in at No.10 is the second album for Melbourne four-piece band Tropical F**k Storm called “Braindrops”, which becomes their first Top 10 album locally and their second to chart, as their debut album “A Laughing Death in Meatspace” debuted and peaked at No.25 in mid-May of 2018.
UP:
* Luke Combs continues to climb back up the albums chart with his first set “This One’s for You”, this week back up three to No.15.
* The Queen “Greatest Hits” set rises four to No.22, while their “Platinum Collection” is stable at No.74, with further rising best of sets being for INXS (47 to No.41), Cold Chisel (returns at No.64), Green Day (77 to No.73), Fleetwood Mac (50 Years-Don’t Stop 85 to No.79, GH 82 to No.81), Foo Fighters (returns at No.83), The Killers (returns at No.86) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (returns at #100).
* The two older Taylor Swift entries rise again this week thanks to her fifth No.1 set this week, with her last release “Reputation” up eleven spots to No.30 and her prior set “1989” up seven to No.42.
* Thelma Plum rises for a second week in a row with “Better in Blak”, this week up five to No.40.
* Travis Scott rebounds six places to No.44 with his “Astroworld” album.
* Ziggy Alberts’ “Laps Around the Sun” rises back up eight spots to No.52.
* With the release this past week of the Elton John biopic on DVD and Blu-Ray in Australia, the soundtrack for ‘Rocketman’ jumps back up twenty-seven spots to No.53, with other rising film sets being for ‘Moana’ (73 to No.70) and ‘Guardians Vol.1′ (89 to No.80).
* Jimmy Barnes’ “My Criminal Record” rises back up four spots to No.58.
* Lizzo bullets back up thirty-two spots this week to No.65 with her set “Cuz I Love You”.
* Lee Kernaghan’s current national tour helps his “Backroad Nation” album to rise back up four spots to No.77.
* Further returning albums this week are “Salt” by Angie McMahon (#87), “Live in Buenos Aires” for Coldplay (#91) and the Katy Perry set “Teenage Dream” (#95).
DOWN:
* Three albums leave the Top 10 this week in the soundtrack for ‘The Lion King (2019)’ (HP-3, WI10-6, 9 to No.17), and two of last weeks new entries in “Infest the Rats’ Nest” for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (HP-2, WI10-1, 2 to No.25) and “Atonement” by Killswitch Engage (HP-4, WI10-1, 4 to No.29).
* Last weeks soundtrack to the new Quentin Tarantino film ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ drops this week down seven spots to No.21, with other declining soundtracks being for ‘Palm Beach’ (33 to No.47), ‘Descendants 3’ (37 to No.69), ‘Aladdin’ (65 to No.76) and ‘Yesterday’ (out from No.94).
* Rapper NF and his set “The Search” drops down six places to No.28.
* Chris Brown slides down eight spots to No.33 with his “Indigo” album.
* Hayden James issued a remix of “Nowhere to Go” on Friday, and his debut album “Between Us” is down seven this week to No.37.
* Fleetwood Mac are down this week with two of their four entries in “Rumours” (31 to No.38) and “The Very Best of” (59 to No.67, 510 weeks within the Top 100 ‘Longest Charted Album’ title holder).
* The Lil’ Nas X EP “7” falls that much this week, down seven places to No.39, while down eight spots to No.43 is the Post Malone older set “Stoney”.
* Tom Walker charged back in at No.39 last week thanks to his current national tour with his debut album “What a Time to Be Alive”, which this week drops down seven places to No.46.
* Eminem’s “Kamikaze” album logs it’s one-year on the chart this week by dropping down ten places to No.48, while his best of set “Curtain Call: The Hits” falls eight places to No.50, with further falling best of sets being for Maroon 5 (51 to No.54), The Wiggles (67 to No.71) and Jason DeRulo (76 to No.88).
* Khalid’s “American Teen” set declines twelve places this week to No.55.
* Bazzi’s mixtape “Soul Searching” falls twenty-five places to No.61.
* Cardi B and her debut set “Invasion of Privacy” declines fourteen spots to No.62.
* Conrad Sewell has one of the biggest falling albums of the week, his first album “LIFE” falls a massive fifty-five places this week to No.66.
* Sticky Fingers’ “Caress Your Soul” zoomed back up last week, but alas this week it’s back down nine places to No.75.
* Tool’s recent streaming re-issued albums are reduced to just one album this week in “Ænima” which plummets thirty-eight places to No.82, while they released their new album on Friday called “Fear Inoculum” which could take out the top spot next week.
* The Ariana Grande album “Sweetener” and the Jonas Brothers set “Happiness Begins” both fall thirteen places to No.84 and No.85 respectively.
* The album “Revenge of the Dreamers III” for Dreamville and J. Cole is down twenty-one places this week to No.90.
* George Ezra’s “Staying at Tamara’s” set falls eighteen spots to No.93.
* Three week old entry and second album for Seeker, Lover, Keeper called “Wild Seeds” plummets this week down thirty-eight places to land at No.96.
* The only album leaving this weeks Top 100 from within last weeks Top 50 is the Sleater-Kinney set “The Center Won’t Hold” (#34), while further debuts from last week to not score a second week on the charts (yet) were by ILLENIUM (#54), Press Club (#64), A$AP Ferg (#70) and Ride (#78).
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #11 (LP#1) – Big Grief by Waax is the debut album for Brisbane, QLD five band WΛΛX lead by female singer Marie DeVita, with their first album being produced and recorded by Powderfinger lead singer Bernard Fanning (in his personal studio) and US producer Nick DiDia (Alice Cooper, Audioslave, Bruce Springsteen, Danzig, Incubus, Karnivool, Kasey Chambers, Mastodon, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Powderfinger, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots and Train among his many produced albums).
* #24 (LP#1) – Echo of Youth by Winterbourne is the debut album for local the duo of James Draper and Jordan Brady, with their now their third albums chart entry, having previously charted with their first two EP’s “All But the Sun” (HP-100, May 2014) and “Pendulum” (HP-23, May 2017), with the lead single from this album being “Better”.
* #35 (LP#1) – Duende by Dan Mullins is the debut album for the Sydney singer/songwriter, with this album featuring the recently released cover and duet with local tenor Mark Vincent and “Perhaps Love” (originally by John Denver and Placido Domingo from 1982, HP-28 here), while the title of the album is taken from the Spanish word for a creature who “possess your house mischievously”.
* #36 (LP#1) – So Much Fun by Young Thug is the debut studio album for the U.S. rapper which landed at No.1 in both America and Canada this past week, while this is his second chart entry in Australia as he teamed with fellow rapper Future for their mixtape “Super Slimey” (HP-35, late October of 2017). His latest chart entry “The London” (HP-13) was the first track lifted from the album and is sitting at No.69 this week.
* #49 (LP#2) – A Different Shade of Blue by Knocked Loose is the second album and now first entry in Australia for the U.S. hardcore punk band from Kentucky, whose first set “Laugh Tracks” was issued in 2016, while earlier this year they issued their third EP called “Mistakes Like Fractures”.
* #63 (LP#3) – Television by City Calm Down is the Melbourne, Australia bands’ third album and chart entry, but their lowest charted so far, as the four piece alt/electro-pop band have previously charted with “In a Restless House” (LP#1, HP-25, mid-Nov., 2015) and “Echoes in Blue” (LP#2, HP-20, mid-April of 2018).
* #72 (LP#2) – Let it Roll by Midland is the U.S. neo-traditional country trio’s second studio album and now their first to chart in Australia, as they issued their debut set “On the Rocks” in September of 2017.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
