The fourth studio album for Canadian artist The Weeknd called “After Hours” becomes his third successive No.1 album in Australia this week.
“After Hours” becomes the 873rd No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2020), the 723rd for ARIA (1983 to 2020), the 512th to debut at No.1 (since the first in 1976), the eleventh for 2020 and the twelfth for the record label Republic, their last being Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding” (Sept 2019). It’s also the first time in 51 weeks where one artist has occupied the top spot on both the singles and albums charts, the last act to do so was Billie Eilish on the 8th of April, 2019 (51 weeks ago) with “Bad Guy” and her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep” (both entries logging their 52nd week on the charts). Overall this is the 132nd time that both the singles and albums charts have had matching No.1 acts and The Weeknd becomes the first to do so for this new decade.
The Weeknd could see a single week at No.1 again for this week new album, as new released sets on Friday were by Pearl Jam, 5 Seconds of Summer and Dua Lipa, who’re all set to fight for next weeks No.1 spot. The two previous No.1 sets for The Weeknd also saw only a single week at the top in “Beauty Behind the Madness” (7th of Sept., 2015) and “Starboy” (5th of Dec., 2016). This is also the first time that the word “After” has been in a No.1 album title, while for “Hours” its also a first, but previous albums with the word ‘Hour’ in it have been “Hourly Daily” for You Am I (1 week on 7th of July, 1996) and the last was the Sam Smith set “In the Lonely Hour” (2 weeks from 27th of April, 2015).
This new No.1 album also becomes the 32nd by a Canadian Artist (solo, duo, group, male or female) and the first since Michael Buble returned with his “Christmas” set on Dec 30th, 2019. The Weeknd is also the 249th Solo Male Artist to hit No.1 here (local or overseas) and the fourth for 2020 after Harry Styles, Eminem and Lil’ Uzi Vert two weeks ago. And by scoring his third No.1 album here, The Weeknd is also now tied in second spot as the Canadian artist with the most chart topping albums here. In equal No.1 spot with five apiece are Celine Dion and Michael Buble, and now tied with three each in second place are The Weeknd, Shania Twain and Justin Bieber. Tied for third spot with two No.1’s are Bryan Adams, Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne, k.d. Lang and Drake.
Last weeks No.1 debut for the compilation album “Artists Unite for Fire Fight” is down one spot to No.2, while on hold at No.3 is the Harry Styles second album “Fine Line”. Debuting at No.4 is the first live album for Melbourne act The Smith Street Band called “Live from The Triffid”, becoming the bands second Top 10 album, as their 2017/fourth set “More Scared of You Than You Are of Me” debuted and peaked at No.3 on mid April, while overall this is their third entry as their album “Throw Me in the River” made it to No.18 in November of 2014.
That aforementioned Billie Eilish album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do Wo Go?” is down one spot to No.5 on its one year chart anniversary, while rebounding are “Changes” for Justin Bieber, up three to No.6 and “Hollywood’s Bleeding” for Post Malone, rising four to No.7 for a 23rd week within the Top 10. Last weeks No.2 debut for Niall Horan and “Heartbreak Weather” drops back down seven spots this week to No.9.
Debuting either side of Niall this week are Adam Lambert at No.8 with his fourth studio and fourth Top 10 album in Australia called “Velvet”. Previously Adam had charted with “For Your Entertainment” (HP-5, March 2010), Trespassing” (HP-4, June 2012) and “The Original High” (HP-4, June 2015), while he has also charted his new albums pre-release EP called “Velvet: Side A” which made it to No.72 in October of 2019.
Kenny Rogers passed away March 20th, 2020, and this weeks chart has three of his compilations charting. The highest of which comes in at No.10, the 1999 issued collection “All the Hits & All New Love Songs”, and it become his eleventh best of compilation to chart in Australia, plus its also his fourth such compile to hit the Top 10 in Australia, his last being 1984’s “20 Greatest Hits” (HP-2, peaked early March 1984, a few months after the No.1 single “Islands in the Stream”).
UP:
* With the world in lockdown, Disney issued the digital version of ‘Frozen 2’ earlier than expected last week, and that helps the soundtrack to rise back up three spots to No.12 this week.
* Ed Sheeran rebounds four places to No.13 with his “No.6 Collaborations Project”, while his third set “÷ (Divide)” is stable at No.22.
* Luke Combs rises three spots to No.20 with his latest set “What You See is What You Get”, while his older entry “This One’s for You” is back up one spot to No.24.
* Halsey sees her “Manic” album move up single place to No.23 this week.
* The soundtrack for ‘The Greatest Showman’ rebounds four places to No.39.
* Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” set is back up eight places to No.43.
* Also returning to the Top 50 and up nine spots from last week is “1989” for Taylor Swift.
DOWN:
* Five albums leave the Top 10 this week, two former No.1 sets are up first in the BTS album “Map of the Soul: 7” (HP-1×2, WI10-4), down nine to No.16, followed by the current second-week-running No.1 in both the U.S.A. and Canada, the Lil’ Uzi Vert set “Eternal Atake” (HP-1×1, WI10-2) which falls twelve spots to No.17. The three remaining dropouts are all new entries from last week, which fall into the lower fifty this week in “Speed of Life” for Adam Brand (HP-6, WI10-1), “Flip Phone Fantasy” for Ocean Grove (HP-8, WI10-1) and “Fallow” for Fanny Lumsden (HP-10, WI10-1).
* Lauv falls three places to No.15 with his set “~How I’m Feeling!~”.
* Lewis Capaldi sees a four place slip to No.25 with “Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent”.
* The Queen biopic soundtrack ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ drops down seven spots to No.35.
* Lizzo slips down three spots to No.40 with “Cuz I Love You”.
* Last weeks entry for Don Toliver and “Heaven or Hell” plummets twenty-six spots to No.46.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #11 (LP#4) – 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino was a surprise release last weekend for the actor and singer Donald Glover under his moniker of Childish Gambino, with him initially releasing the set on the 15th of March on his donaldgloverpresents.com web page for 12 hours before it being taken down, and then a week later it was issued to download and streaming services, with most of the tracks listed as time codes as to when they start on the album, like “32.22” starts at 32 minutes and 22 seconds into the album. This now becomes his fifth albums chart entry in Australia (four studio and one EP), of which his last album has been his only Top 10 entrant, “Awaken, My Love!” (HP-9, Dec 2016).
* #26 (LP#1) – Kid Krow by Conan Gray is the debut album for the 21 year old Texas artist, who is currently charting with this weeks No.28 single “Maniac”, with the album also featuring previously issued songs “Checkmate”, “Comfort Crowd”, “The Story” and “Wish You Were Sober”, none of which have charted within the Top 100 here.
* #27 (LP#3) – Kelsea by Kelsea Ballerini is the third album and now third chart entry for the American female country singer, having previously charted with “The First Time” (HP-33, March 2016) and “Unapologetically” (HP-12, Nov, 2017). This latest album has so far produced the singles “Homecoming Queen” (HP-26 digital chart, 16-Sep, 2019) and “The Other Girl” (due April 2020).
* #38 (GH#33) – 21 Number Ones by Kenny Rogers – this set originally charted in November of 2008 hitting No.61 and spending a single week within the Top 100, so this is a re-entry and with a new peak.
* #50 (GH#45) – The Best of by Kenny Rogers is the third compile landing within the Top 50 this week for the recently passed country singer and actor. There have been two previous albums for Kenny called “The Best of”, Volume 1 in 1979 which made it to No.4 for two weeks in late November and a Volume 2 in 1980 which logged four weeks at No.10 during the Xmas/NYE’s period of 1980/81.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
