Vika & Linda (Bull) land their first No.1 Album in their native Australia this week as their collection called “Akilotoa (Anthology 1994-2006)” debuts at the top of the ARIA Albums chart.
“Akilotoa (Anthology 1994-2006)” becomes the 883rd No.1 Album in Australia (1965 to 2020), the 733rd for ARIA (1983 to 2020), the 521st album to debut at the top, the 21st No.1 album of this year, and the second for the Mushroom/Liberation record label ‘Bloodlines’ after their first 54 weeks ago in the Jimmy Barnes album “My Criminal Record” (10th of June, 2019; 1 week).
The new No.1 album is also the 63rd Greatest Hits collection to make it to the top here, and the first since Paul Kelly’s “Songs from the South: Greatest Hits 1985-2019” went to the top on November 25th, 2019, while it’s the third Aussie best of in a year to hit the top, as Kylie Minogue’s “Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection” did so on July 8th, 2019. It’s the first time that the Tongan word ‘Akilotoa’ (means ‘cascading’) has appeared in a No.1 album title, but the third time for the word ‘Anthology’ after albums called that went to the top for The Beatles (Dec 1995, 1 week) and John Farnham (Oct 1997, 1 week).
The duo of Vika & Linda Bull have only ever graced the Top 10 once before, with their debut self-titled album from June 1994, which peaked at No.7 upon entry, thus this new collection of hits becomes their second Top 10 album locally, plus the set is also the 244th by an Australian Act to make it to No.1 and the eighth for 2020, plus the pair also become the 118th Aussie act (male, female, duo or group) to make it to the top of the local charts. As Vika & Linda are classed as a duo, they also score the 19th No.1 by a duo or pair and the first since 21 pilots did so in October of 2018, and they’re the first local duo since Busby Marou in February of 2017 at No.1. The other thing that the duo does is also gives us a sixth Aussie duo at No.1 following on from Savage Garden, The Presets, Angus & Julia Stone, Hermitude and the aforementioned Busby Marou, which means we break free from the tie we have had been in with the U.S.A.’s five duo’s to make it to the top (there have also been one duo from England and one from Germany at No.1 here).
There are three new entries to the top end of the chart this week, and all three are for Australian acts, as coming in at No.2 with their debut album is Fremantle, Perth, WA act Spacey Jane and the album “Sunlight”, with the four piece act having previously won the Triple J Unearthed competition in 2018, with this albums second (of five) issued single “Good for You” being the JJJ Hottest 100 placed No.80 song for 2019.
New at No.3 is the sixth studio album for Australian country sisters The McClymonts called “Mayhem to Madness”, which instantly becomes the trios sixth Top 50 entry, fifth Top 10 placing and also third Top 3 album, as the set lands in the same position that their January 2017 fifth album “Endless”, while the girls’ second album “Wrapped Up Good” has been their highest placed so far peaking at No.2 in January of 2010 upon entry.
After two weeks at No.1 the Lady Gaga album “Chromatica” falls to No.4, followed by further three place falls for the Harry Styles set “Fine Line” and the Billie Eilish set “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” to No.5 and No.6 respectively. Stable at No.7 and No.8 are the Dua Lipa set “Future Nostalgia” and the Post Malone album “Hollywood’s Bleeding”, followed by The Weeknd with “After Hours” down three spots to No.9 and then the Luke Combs album “What You See is What You Get” drops one spot to No.10 for a ninth week inside the ten.
UP:
* Thanks to a vinyl release of their No.1 album from four weeks ago, The 1975 set “Notes on a Conditional Form” rebounds back up the charts seventy-seven places to land at No.16 this week.
* The XXXTentacion album “?” returns to the Top 30 for the first time since April of 2019 by climbing back up three spots to No.29.
* Queen’s “Greatest Hits” set returned to the Top 50 last week, and this week it rises sixteen spots to land at No.32, with other climbing best of sets being for Eminem (29 to No.26), Maroon 5 (35 to No.34) and returning to the Top 50 are The Seekers with “Hidden Treasures Vol.1” (52 to No.37).
* The second Halsey set “Manic” makes a small rise back up two places to No.35.
DOWN:
* Last weeks top two debuts both fall into the lower fifty this week in the Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever set “Sideways to New Italy” (HP-4) and the self-titled fifth album for The Ghost Inside (HP-5), with the third album leaving the Top 10 this week being the Ed Sheeran duets set “No.6 Collaborations Project” (HP-1, WI10-33) down one spot to No.11.
* BTS slip back down five spots to No.22 with “Map of the Soul: 7”.
* Soundtracks slipping this week are ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (21 to No.25), ‘Frozen 2’ (28 to No.38) and ‘The Greatest Showman’ (40 to No.47).
* Polo G sees his album “GOAT” drop four places to No.27.
* Drake’s mixtape “Dark Lane Demo Tapes” drops ten places this week to No.28, while his “Scorpion” set falls four to No.40.
* The Tones and I debut EP “The Kids are Coming” slips down six spots to No.30.
* The double EP’s for Benee in “Fire on Marzz”/”Stella & Steve” drop down seven places to No.33.
* Dean Lewis drops five places to No.36 with his album “A Place We Knew”.
* The collections for INXS (33 to No.41) and Cold Chisel (27 to No.42) both fall into the 41-50 region.
* LAUV drops down seven spots to No.46 with his album “~How I’m Feeling~”.
* Niall Horan slides five places this week to No.48 with his second album “Heartbreak Weather”.
FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #18 (LP#2) – Pain is Power by Justice for the Damned is the second album for the Sydney five piece whose first album called “Dragged Through the Dirt” made it to No.37 in August of 2017.
* #21 (LP#8) – Pick Me Up off the Floor by Norah Jones is the eighth studio album for the singer and songwriter and her overall tenth entry (8 studios, 1 featured artist and 1 compilation) while it’s also her second lowest charted album overall, as her appearance on the Peter Malick Group album “New York City” (HP-22, August 2003) was her lowest placed album.
* #50 (Live#2) – MTV Unplugged (Live at Hull City Hall) by Liam Gallagher is the new No.1 album in his home country of England this week, becoming his third overall No.1 there. Here he has charted with two solo albums in “As You Were” (HP-9, October 2017) and “Why Me? Why Not” (HP-7, late September 2019). Liam previously released a live album called “Acoustic Sessions” in January of this year and overall this is his third entry here.
Written, researched and compiled by Gavin Ryan.
