It took Ed Sheeran 42 weeks to climb to No.1 with his first album “+” (TW-29), whilst this week his follow up “x” (multiply) comes straight in at No.1 and also achieves Gold (●) in sales first week of release.
“x” becomes the 706th No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2014) and the 557th for ARIA (1983 to 2014), plus the 355th album to debut at the top and the eighteenth No.1 for the Atlantic record label, the first since January 2013’s “Unorthodox Jukebox” by Bruno Mars. Plus “x” becomes the seventh single-letter/number title to hit the top in Australia, with of course the previous Ed Sheeran chart-topper “+” along with “1” by The Beatles (Nov 2000), “2” for Sneaky Sound System (Aug 2008), “V” for Live (Sept 2001) and two further albums titled just “X” for INXS (Oct 1990) and Kylie Minogue (Dec 2007).
Ed also becomes the first English Solo Male Artist to top the charts since his previous entry “+” did so in August 2012, with only English Solo Female Artist Birdy and five English Groups topping our charts in-between, including One Direction (twice), Foals, Bring Me the Horizon, Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay. “x” now becomes the 137th No.1 album by an English Act, and the 197th by a Solo Male Artist to hit No.1 in Australia, the last being Chet Faker with “Built on Glass” back in late April.
With Coldplay in the country last week, and performing on The Voice, their former No.1 “Ghost Stories” is back up to No.2 this week, whilst last weeks chart-topping set for Lana Del Rey entitled “Ultraviolence” is down two places to No.3. The Disney film ‘Frozen’ sees the soundtrack back up two places to No.4, the album notching up its half-year mark on the charts (it debuted the first week of 2014) and its twenty-fourth week within the Top 10. Two of last weeks Top 3 entries drops down three places each, with “Utopia” for 360 falling to No.5 and Linkin Park’s “The Hunting Party” down to No.6.
The sixth studio album for US heavy metal act Mastodon becomes their first Top 10 placing in Australia, as “Once More ‘Round the Sun” comes in at No.7, and this is the bands fifth album to chart here (four studios and one live). Their previous entries have been “Blood Mountain” (HP-44, Oct 2006, LP#3), “Crack the Skye” (HP-19, April 2009, LP#4), Live at the Aragon (HP-59, March 2011, L#1) and “The Hunter” (HP-18, Oct 2011, LP#5).
The debut album for German duo Milky Chance is new at No.8 entitled “SadNecessary”, with Australia only the second country to give a Top 10 berth (France was the other peaking at No.5), whilst the set peaked at No.14 in their home country when released last November. The Amity Affliction drop down two places to No.9 with their former No.1 set “Let the Ocean Take Me”, which is their longest run within the Top 10, as their former No.1 “Chasing Ghosts” only stayed for a single week. Finally holding at No.10 is Keith Urban with his “Fuse” set, helped by his current tour of Australia.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Pharrell Williams is back up thirteen places to No.14 with his “G I R L” album, whilst after plummeting out of the Top 10 last week Lorde is back up eight places to No.17 with “Pure Heroine”. Ed Sheeran also climbs with his former album “+”, back up ten places to No.29 and Keith Urban’s other chart entry “The Story So Far” is up twelve to No.30 this week. David Campbell snuck in at No.98 last week with his new album “Sings John Bucchino”, which this week leaps up sixty-one places to a new peak of No.37, whilst OneRepublic are back up nine to No.38 with “Native”.
DOWN DOWN: After two weeks within the Top 10, both “Lazaretto” (HP-3) for Jack White and “Whispers” (HP-2) by Passenger are down to No.11 and No.12 respectively, whilst Katy Perry is down seven to No.15 with her “Prism” set. Deadmau5 entered at No.12 last week on downloads alone with his new album “While (1<2)”, and now that physical sales have kicked in, he only drops down four to No.16 this week. Chet Faker is down six to No.26 with “Built on Glass”, whilst Michael Jackson with “Xscape” drops eleven to No.32. “Stay Gold” for First Aid Kit drops nineteen to No.34 and Kasabian drop twenty-four spots to No.35 with “48:13”. The Black Keys fall thirteen to No.36 with “Turn Blue” and The Angels drop nine to No.41 with “40 Years of Rock Volume 1”. London Grammar are down nine to No.45 with “If You Wait” and “Zaba” for Glass Animals falls fifteen to No.46, whilst “The Very Best of” for The Eagles drops twelve to No.47, “Sheezus” by Lily Allen is down fifteen to No.49 and Queen’s jump last week with their “Greatest Hits” set is back down seventeen to No.50 this week. Also dropping out of the Top 50 are James Blunt (30 to 55), Tiesto (18 to 61), Michael Buble (49 to 64), Led Zeppelin I (38 to 86), II (43 to 79) and III (41 to 74) and The Vamps (46 to 77). Melbourne group Confession see their fourth album “Life and Death” come in at No.19 becoming the bands’ highest charting position, beating their previous entries “Cancer” (HP-69, Oct 2009 LP#2) and “The Long Way Home” (HP-47, Oct 2011, LP#3). A few places lower at No.22 is the tenth studio album for UK singer David Gray entitled “Mutineers”. It’s his first entry in almost four years, as his previous album was “Foundling” (HP-34, August 2010), and this becomes his seventh entry here (six studios and one best of), with his only Top 10 placing here being “Life in Slow Motion” (HP-8, Sept 2005).
Jennifer Lopez sees her eighth studio album “A.K.A.” debut at No.24, becoming her ninth ARIA Albums chart entry (seven studios, one remix and one greatest hits album). Her last studio album “Love?” climbed to No.9 in May 2011 and her last chart entry was her collection “Dance Again… The Hits” (HP-20, August 2012).
Lower 50: The “ABBA Gold & More (Anniversary Edition)” collection is back up to No.51 this week, plus the album also achieves ▲Platinum in sales, “The Great Country Songbook” for Troy & Adam is back in at No.52 and due to her concert announcement Miley Cyrus is back in at No.58 with her current set “Bangerz”. “L.O.V.E.” for Harrison Craig jumps back up thirty-three places to No.60 and “The Very Best of” for Fleetwood Mac is back up fourteen spots to No.67 now in its 354th week within the Top 100 (still the longest run ever). Further returning albums come via collections for Nickelback (#81) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (#88), with albums for The Black Sorrows (#87), Pink (#95) and Will.i.am (#98) also back in. The only new entry in the lower fifty is the debut set for Swedish singer/songwriter Kim Cesarion entitled “Undressed”, it comes in at No.59.
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Never miss a story! Get your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to the Noise11 Music Newsletter here
Listen to the Noise11 Music News channel now at iHeartRadio
Follow Noise11.com on Facebook and Twitter
——————————————————————————————————————————————
