We’re tizzying it up for Christmas with this week’s ARIA Chart Watch.
And it’s not just our header image with a slightly festive flavour; the charts too are starting to ring to the sound of Christmas collections and seasonal favourites, especially on the albums chart, with seven Xmas albums in the top 40, including two occupying the top two positions.
So don’t be a turkey… Tuck in and gobble up this week’s cracker pre-Christmas edition of ARIA Chart Watch.
SINGLES
Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start). And the No.1 single in Australia this week (as it was last week) is Clean Bandit, Sean Paul and Anne-Marie’s ‘Rockabye’. It spends its third week in succession on top of the Aussie chart pile and bags itself a shiny new platinum certification for its troubles, having sold through more than 70,000 copies locally.
Also unmoved this week and also picking up a new certification is The Weeknd’s single ‘Starboy’, wedged in at No.2, but improving to a fresh new double platinum accreditation (140,000 copies in the bag).
Having been at No.1 for most of the week on the iTunes store, there was plenty of hope for a replication of said success on the official chart for both Zayn and Taylor Swift and their new track ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’, plucked from the soundtrack from the forthcoming ‘Fifty Shades’ sequel ‘Fifty Shades Darker’. It’s the highest new entry, however, at No.3.
Bruno Mars’ ’24K Magic’ reaches a new peak, rising from No.6 to No.4, but Rae Sremmurd’s ‘Black Beatles’ loses three to No.6.
Alessia Cara’s ‘Scars To Your Beautiful’ bullets from No.14 into the top ten (No.8) and achieves a gold certification on its way (35,000 copies).
It may have lost its grip on a top ten berth this week, but Maroon 5’s new single ‘Don’t Wanna Know’ has done enough during its nine week chart reign to pick up a shiny new platinum accreditation (No.9 to No.12). Calum Scott’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ loses five, but Andy Grammer’s ‘Fresh Eyes’ are fixed on the No.16 position this week, up 16 from No.32.
Joining the parade of new certifications this week are Frenship and Emily Warren’s ‘Capsize’ (platinum and steady at No.17), Illy and Anne-Marie’s ‘Catch 22’ (also platinum, but down four to No.19) and DJ Snake and Justin Bieber’s ‘Let Me Love You’ (it may have taken 19 weeks to achieve it, but it’s up two spots to No.20 and hits triple platinum status for sales in excess of 210,000 copies).
Drake’s ‘Fake Love’ gets real certification gold (No.19 to No.23) and Steve Aoki and former 1D star Louis Tomlinson team up for ‘Just Hold On’, which debuts in the No.25 spot.
It’s still early days, but it may be that the reign of Lady Gaga isn’t over quite yet. The singer’s track ‘Million Reasons’ dropped eight weeks ago and it’s been in and out of the top 100 since, but with a slew of live performances and extra promotion over the past week or two, along with the reveal of the music video, the track is slowly starting to impact again. This week, it bullets from No.71 to No.34 and reaches its highest peak thus far (previous peak was No.37).
Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall’s ‘Juju On That Beat (TZ Anthem)’ goes gold, despite slipping six places to No.37, Guy Sebastian’s ‘Set In Stone’ is down 12 to No.41 and The Veronicas’ ‘On Your Side’ tumbles nine to No.43.
J Cole’s ‘Deja Vu’ debuts at No.45.
J Cole’s ‘Deja Vu’ debuts at No.45.
It’s starting to make an impact over in his homeland, but Rag N Bone Man’s ‘Human’ is showing signs of fatigue here, slipping nine places to No.47. The Weeknd’s ‘Party Monster’ is down 13 to No.56 and J Cole’s ‘Immortal’ premieres just outside the top 50 (No.57).
It’s bad news and good for Shawn Mendes this week. The bad news? ‘Treat You Better’ is down three places to No.59. The good news? it picks up a third platinum certification.
Zara Larsson’s ‘Ain’t My Fault’ is down 12 (No.51 to No.63), Adele’s ‘Water Under The Bridge’ is down eight from its No.57 peak, The Vamps’ ‘All Night’ improves slightly (No.69 to a new peak of No.66) and movement too for Anne-Marie’s ‘Alarm’. Just probably not in the direction she’d have liked. It’s down 14 places to No.69.
With his tour in full swing down under, Keith Urban’s duet with Carrie Underwood (‘The Fighter’) leaps 15 places to No.72, but Nicki Minaj’s ‘Black Barbies’ suffers a big second week slump, losing 26 places from last week’s No.47 debut.
Niall Horan’s ‘This Town’ drops another nine (after losing 12 last week) to No.75, there are re-entries for Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’ (double platinum at No.78) and ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ (platinum at No.80) and a new entry for Bliss N Eso’s ‘Friend Like You’ (No.85).
Noah Cyrus’s ‘Make Me (Cry)’ is back in the top 100 (a re-entry at No.88 – and a new peak), but Ariana Grande’s ‘Into You’ loses 14 to No.91 and DRAM’s ‘Broccoli’ is down 16 to No.92.
Sofi Tucker’s ‘Drinkee’ tumbles 20 to No.98, The Veronicas’ ‘In My Blood’ is down 25 to No.99.
ALBUMS
The Rolling Stones are no more in the ARIA No.1 spot with their new album ‘Blue & Lonesome’. They might still be blue and lonesome, but they’re now blue and lonesome in the No.3 position instead.
Climbing into the No.1 spot this week – and reaching a new peak by doing so – are John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John with their ‘Friends For Christmas’ album, which improves from No.4. Not only does the duo bag the No.1 spot for the first time with this LP, they also bag a platinum certification, meaning Sony’s been able to cram 70,000 copies of the album into retail stores across the country.
As mentioned EARLIER in the week, however, Canadian crooner Michael Bublé reaches a very special milestone with his album ‘Christmas’. The 2011 release is still at No.2 this week, but has a fresh new certification to call its own, being updated from 13 times platinum to double diamond, meaning the LP has now sold in excess of one million copies in Australia.
Keith Urban’s ‘Ripcord’ Aussie tour results in a sales bump of the album after which it’s named; which improves from No.7 to No.4.
J Cole’s ‘4 Your Eyez Only’ is the week’s highest entry (No.6), Coldplay’s ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ leaps from No.14 to No.8 (also thanks to their Australian tour), Metallica’s ‘Hardwired…To Self-Destruct’ is down from No.3 to No.9 and the ‘Trolls’ soundtrack improves two positions to hit the top ten for the first time (No.12 to No.10).
Not quite making the ten, however, is ‘X Factor’ winner Isaiah Firebrace and his debut self-titled album. It manages a No.12 debut but, if the current iTunes chart is any indication, it won’t be anywhere near the top 50 next week.
The Weeknd’s album is down six, the ‘Suicide Squad’ soundtrack is up five and Robbie Williams’ new album ‘The Heavy Entertainment Show’ has gone gold (No.18 to No.22). 35,000 copies of the album are now floating about beyond the warehouse.
Cold Chisel’s ‘The Live Tapes Vol.3’ tumbles from No.11 on debut to No.26, but with both acts on Australian soil, there’s plenty of love in the room for Coldplay’s ‘4CD Catalogue Set’ (No.50 to No.27) and Carrie Underwood’s ‘Storyteller’ (No.52 to No.28).
The Ten Tenors’ ‘Our Christmas Wish’ is up (No.42 to No.33), but Childish Gambino’s ‘Awaken, My Love!’ is down (No.9 on debut to No.34).
Attention parents : a lot of you are getting Roy Orbison’s ‘The Ultimate Collection’ for Christmas. It’s up 15 places to No.38.
Lady Gaga’s ‘Joanne’ is also back into the top 50 (No.51 to No.40). Albums from Andre Rieu and Barbra Streisand bob their heads back into the top 50.
Just beyond the walls of the 50 this week is a No.52 debut for the new Neil Young LP ‘Peace Trail’.
Neil Diamond’s ‘Acoustic Christmas’ is also in season, improving from No.80 to No.57, while Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Chapter And Verse’ jumps from No.74 to No.58. Rod Stewart’s ‘Merry Christmas, Baby’ is also back – a re-entry at No.59.
But the news isn’t good for John Legend. His new album ‘Darkness And Light’ already debuted quite low last week (No.37), but it finds itself a worrying 30 places lower this week, with (according to our reviewer David) no other ‘All Of Me’ moment to fall back on.
Sarah McLachlan’s ‘Wonderland’ is new at No.68, Sticky Fingers’ ‘Westway (The Glitter & The Slums)’ is down 30 to No.76 and the ‘Sing’ soundtrack finds its way into the countdown on debut at No.77.
Also taking a big tumble this week are A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service’ (down 48 places to No.92) and (especially) ‘The Hamilton Mixtape’, which plummets 71 places from last week’s No.26 debut.
The ‘Moana’ soundtrack wraps us up with a debut at No.100.
(Guy Sebastian’s ‘Part 1 EP’ and ‘The Best Of Kate Miller-Heidke’ are both gone from the top 100 after debuting last week at Nos.31 and 35 respectively).
For a full run down of the ARIA top 50s, head over to the ARIA CHARTS WEBSITE (now with a fresh new look, with fresh new features) every Saturday from 5:00pm AEDT.