January 1, 2014 gets us halfway through the decade.
Time for some Chartifacts and analysis on the biggest number one songs and albums as we pass the halfway mark of this decade.
SINGLES:
2014 saw the longest running No.1 of the decade so far in “Happy” by Pharrell Williams which landed at the top in the first week of last year, and stayed atop the ARIA Singles chart for twelve non-consecutive weeks over three runs at the top (5-6-1 weeks), plus it became 40 year old Pharrell’s first lead solo number one here, it was his third appearance at the top, as in 2013 he was guest vocalist on back-to-back chart toppers “Get Lucky” (1 week, May 2013) by Daft Punk and “Blurred Lines” (8 weeks, May 2013) for Robin Thicke. In the long-term of No.1’s in Australia, “Happy” is equal fourth of the rock era (1955 to today) alongside Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (12 weeks, 2002), with “Hey Jude” by The Beatles at No.2 (13 weeks) and “Fernando” by Abba at No.1 (14 weeks).
MOST WEEKS AT No.1: 2010’s (Songs)
Pharrell Williams, Photo By Ian LaidlawHappy by Pharrell Williams (2014) 12 weeks
Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO (2011) 10 weeks
Sexy and I Know it by LMFAO (2011) 9 weeks
Roar by Katy Perry (2013) 9 weeks
Que Sera by Justice Crew (2014) 9 weeks
Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye featuring Kimbra (2011) 8 weeks
Whistle by Flo Rida (2012) 8 weeks
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke featuring Pharrell & T.I. (2013) 8 weeks
Someone Like You by Adele (2011) 7 weeks
Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat Wanz (2012) 7 weeks
OMG by Usher (2010) 6 weeks
Love the Way You Lie by Eminem and Rihanna (2010) 6 weeks
Wild Ones by Flo Rida feat Sia (2012) 6 weeks
Wake Me Up by Avicii featuring Aloe Blacc (2013) 6 weeks)
This also gives Pharrell the most weeks at No.1 this decade (so far) at an accumulated 21 weeks at the top. The artist who is second on that list of ‘Most Weeks at No.1: 2010’s’ is Rihanna with 20 weeks at the top from five No.1 singles (the most for any artist), but she had no chart topping singles during 2014, but almost every year previously with “Rude Boy” (2 weeks, March 2010), “Love the Way You Lie” (6 weeks, July 2010) alongside Eminem, “Only Girl (in the World)” (4 broken weeks, Sept 2010), “S&M” (5 broken weeks, February 2011) and then again with Eminem on “The Monster” (3 weeks in November 2013).
MOST ACCUMULATED WEEKS AT No.1: 2010’s (Artists with more than one No.1)
Pharrell Williams (21 weeks from 3 No.1’s)
Rihanna (20 weeks from 5 No.1’s)
LMFAO (19 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Flo Rida (14 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Katy Perry (13 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (12 weeks from 3 No.1’s)
Justice Crew (11 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Eminem (9 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Guy Sebastian (8 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Bruno Mars (7 weeks from 3 No.1’s) current No.1 artist in Australia
Pink (6 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Ed Sheeran (6 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Taylor Swift (6 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Snoop Dogg (5 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Reece Mastin (5 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Fun. (5 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Jason DeRulo (4 weeks from 3 No.1’s)
There have been 14 No.1’s songs by Australian acts, of which there are eleven acts (Reece, Guy and Justice Crew all had two each), and we have had No.1 songs by artists from the usual America and England, but also The Virgin Island (Iyaz, Feb 2010), Barbados (Rihanna several times), Ireland (Brian McFadden, April 2010), Canada (Carly Rae Jepsen, April 2012), South Korea (Psy, Oct 2012), Sweden (Swedish Hose Mafia, Nov 2012, Avicii, July 2013), France (Daft Punk, May 2013) and in the past year of 2014 we only had No.1 acts from Australia, England and America.
ALBUMS
The third longest running No.1 album of all time in Australia (1965 to today) occurred this decade, and is still sometimes to be seen within the Top 100 albums each week, I am talking about the second album for Adele, “21”, which spent a massive 32 non-consecutive weeks at No.1 from the first week of May in 2011. It sits two weeks shy of the 34 weeks notched up by “Brothers in Arms” (1985 & 86) for Dire Straits, and just two weeks ahead of the landmark Beatles album “Sgt. Peppers” (30 weeks from August 1967), and for this century it’s at the top ahead of the 29 weeks racked up by Delta Goodrem’s debut set “Innocent Eyes” (from March 2003), which is also the same amount collected by the No.1 album of the 1970’s “Hot August Night” for Neil Diamond (from May 1973).
MOST WEEKS AT No.1: 2010’s (Albums)
Adele 2121 by Adele (2011) (32 weeks)
Greatest Hits… So Far by Pink (2010) (13 weeks)
Christmas by Michael Buble (2010) (13 weeks) **
The Truth About Love by Pink (2012) (10 weeks)
Recovery by Eminem (2010) (9 weeks)
The Very Best by INXS (2014) (7 weeks)
My Journey by Karise Eden (2012) (6 weeks)
X by Ed Sheeran (2014) (6 weeks)
Up All Night by One Direction (2012) (5 weeks)
To Be Loved by Michael Buble (2013) (5 weeks)
Even though Adele has notched up the most weeks from the one No.1 album, she needs to score a second one to jump onto the list of acts with the most weeks at the top from multiple albums, and that crown so far this decade goes to Pink (who racked up eleven weeks at the top in the previous decade). Her two biggest albums (and tours) occurred in the past five years, with her “Greatest Hits… So Far” album ringing up thirteen straight weeks at the top from mid-November in 2010 all the way through until mid-Feb of 2011. That was the longest run at the top of the ARIA Albums chart for this decade (“21” by Adele had an eleven week run between June and late August 2011).
Pink followed her collection with the album “The Truth About Love” which initially had a five week run from late September 2012 and then it returned to the top during her 2013 national tour in July and August. **Michael Buble had two extraordinary chart feats during this decade, firstly his October 2009 No.1 “Crazy Love” (3 weeks) went back to the top of the charts when he toured here February 2011, for a second batch of three weeks, giving one of the longest gaps for an album to return to the top of the Australian Albums chart.
Then just a couple of weeks ago he achieved something which has never before been seen, he took the same album “Christmas” back to the top of the ARIA Albums chart for a fourth consecutive year (2011, 5 weeks), (2012, 4 weeks), (2013, 3 weeks) (2014, 1 week). There has only been one previous album which went back to the top on three separate chart runs, the Soundtrack for “Grease”, but it did that over a twenty year period (1978, 1990 and 1998), with both albums collecting thirteen weeks at No.1, which now places the “Christmas” album at equal second longest running album of this decade (so far). Also One Direction are the act with the most No.1 albums this decade, as all four of their studio albums have gone to No.1 here in Australia, a feat only surpassed by Silverchair (5 #1 studio albums), Jimmy Barnes (6 #1’s) and The Twelfth Man (#7 No.1’s).
MOST WEEKS AT No.1: 2010’s (Artists with multiple #1 albums)
Pink (23 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Michael Buble (21 weeks from 3 No.1’s)
Eminem (11 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
One Direction (9 weeks from 4 No.1’s)
Taylor Swift (8 weeks from 3 No.1’s)
Ed Sheeran (7 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Lady Gaga (5 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Coldplay (4 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
The Hilltop Hoods (4 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Justin Bieber (3 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Foo Fighters (3 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Kings of Leon (3 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Katy Perry (3 weeks from 2 No.1’s)
Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.
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