Ed Sheeran is again at the top of the ARIA Albums chart this week with “x”.
The album notches up a fifth week at No.1, becoming the second longest run at the top for 2014, behind INXS’ “The Very Best” which spent seven weeks broken weeks from mid-February to mid-April.
With school holidays on around the country and a price reduction under $10 in some places, the ‘Frozen’ Soundtrack is back up to No.2 this week, swapping with Barbra Streisand and “Partners”, which is down to No.3, whilst the highest and only Top 10 entry this week comes in at No.4, the fifth studio album and fourth consecutive Top 10 album for Lady Antebellum entitled “747”. This also becomes Lady A’s highest charting album in Australia too, beating the No.5 peak of their second and third albums “Need You Now” (peaked April 2011) and “Own the Night” (peaked September 2011), whilst they also debuted and peaked at No.8 with their last set “Golden” in May 2013.
Missy Higgins stays put at No.5 with her covers album “Oz”, whilst back up three places to No.6 is Sam Smith with “In the Lonely Hour”. Also back up three, and returning to the original entry position of No.7 are Tony Bennett and Lady GaGa with “Cheek to Cheek”, whilst his X-Factor performance for his new single “Host of Angels” (New TW-55) helps Taylor Henderson’s “Burnt Letters” back up six places to No.8. Alt-J drops two places to No.9 with “This is All Yours” and also returning to the top ten at No.10 are The Hilltop Hoods with “Walking Under Stars”.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Slash played at the NRL Grand Final this past weekend, and that keeps his current album “World on Fire” from dropping this week, its back up to No.15, whilst The Script will be in the country this coming week, and after dropping dramatically last week, “No Sound Without Silence” is back up to No.19 this week. After receiving 9 ARIA Award Nominations this past week, Chet Faker sees his album “Built on Glass” back up twelve places to No.33 and the other NRL GF act was Train, whose latest album “Bulletproof Picasso” rises back up thirty-six places to No.41.
DOWN DOWN: After three weeks in the Top 10 and one week at No.1, The Madden Brothers’ album “Greetings from California” is down four to No.12 this week, whilst the two Top 10 debuts from last week also leave, Leonard Cohen with “Popular Problems” (6 to 13) and The Preatures with “Blue Planet Eyes” (4 to 20). Vance Joy drops six to No.22 with “Dream Your Life Away” and Chris Brown is down ten to No.29 with his “X” album. Tim McGraw falls seven to No.35 with “Sundown Heaven Town”, whilst SBTRKT halves himself and drops twenty places to No.40 with “Wonder Where We Land”. Prince sees his “Art Official Age” descend thirty-four places to No.49 and leaving from last weeks Top 50 are Lana Del Rey (25 to 58), Megan Washington (48 to 61), Jamie T (35 to 65), Bluejuice (27 to 69), Kenny Chesney (31 to 70), Aphex Twin (39 to 71), Gerard Way (29 to 72), Prince & 3rdEye Girl (33 to 82) and Nickelback (49 to 89), whilst Tove Lo leaves the hundred from last weeks debut at No.47.
The first album in over six years for Augie March comes in at No.14 entitled “Havens Dumb”, becoming their fifth (of five) Top 50 entry, the band having scored two Top 10 albums last decade with “Moo, You Bloody Choir” (HP-10, March 2006) and their last chart entry “Watch Me Despair” (HP-4, October 2008). Stevie Nicks enters at No.16 with a bunch of missing recordings from her previous album entitled “24 Karat Gold – Songs from the Vault”, and one place lower at No.17 are the Norwegian duo Nico & Vinz with their debut album “Black Star Elephant”, which is helped by their promo tour here this past week.
Childish Gambino debuts at No.25 with his new mix-tape/EP release “Kauai”, which becomes his highest charting entry here in Australia. One place lower is the Canadian artist Daniel Snaith who goes by the name Caribou, and his fourth album “Our Love” becomes his first chart entry here in Australia. Sydney act The Beautiful Girls see their fifth album “Dancehall Days” debut at No.30 this week, become their fifth Top 100 and fourth Top 40 placing, and one place lower at No.31 is the third album for Sixx:A.M. entitled “Modern Vintage”, becoming the bands first Top 50 placing and second chart entry, as their second album “This is Gonna Hurt” made it to No.53 in May 2011.
Lucinda Williams has been charting here in Australia since her fifth album “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” made it to No.69 in August 1998, but the six albums she has charted here have never reached higher than No.53 (her 9th album “West” in Feb 2007). This week she lands her first Top 40 entry on the ARIA Albums chart as her twelfth studio album “Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone” comes in at No.32.
The ninth studio album for Weezer (and first new in just over four years) comes in at No.45 entitled “Everything Will Be Alright in the End”, becoming the bands eighth Top 100 and seventh Top 50 placing, their last entry being September 2010’s “Hurley” (HP-55). The final entry to this week’s fifty is in at No.48, Flying Lotus with “You’re Dead!” the bands fifth studio album and second ARIA Top 100 entry, as their October 2012 fourth album “Until the Quiet Comes” made it to No.97 for a week.
Lower 50: Nirvana return at No.50 with “Nevermind”, and after the recent screening on TV of “Rock of Ages”, the soundtrack is back in at No.51 this week. Slash’s appearances and promo tour has also helped his former band Guns N’ Roses to leap back up thirty-five places to No.59 with their “Greatest Hits” collection. Miley Cyrus kicked off her national tour this past week, and her “Bangerz” album returns at No.64, with future tourist Rodriguez and his set “Searching for Sugar Man” are back up seventeen places to No.66. The only other returning album this week is at No.96, “Triple J’s Like a Version 9” at No.96, ahead of Volume 10 which came out this past Friday (10-Oct).
There are two new entries to the lower fifty this week, with DJ and producer Steve Aoki coming in at No.67 with “Neon Future 1”, his second studio album and first to chart here in Australia, and it features the recent No.94 single “Delirious (Boneless)”. The other album to enter is Robin Gibb at No.77 with “50 St. Catherine’s Drive”, which was recorded in 2008 but never released at the time, and it becomes his first ever ARIA (or Australian) Albums chart entry, plus it’s his eighth studio album overall.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
