It’s been a record year for albums, as the 35th number one album has landed at the top of the ARIA Albums chart this year, the self-titled debut set for Taylor Henderson is the new No.1 this week.
“Taylor Henderson” for the X-Factor runner-up becomes the 692nd No.1 album in Australia (1965 to 2013) and the 551st for ARIA (1983 to 2013), whilst it’s also the 346th No.1 debut and the 34th self-titled album to reach the top, with the last being X-F winner Dami Im two weeks ago. It’s the first time since 2003’s inaugural Australian Idol that a runner-up has also achieved a No.1 album, as Guy Sebastian spent four weeks at the top from 15-Dec-2003 with “Just As I Am”, then Shannon Noll took his album “That’s What I’m Talking About” to the top for four weeks from 16-Feb-2004.
It’s the first time that the word ‘Taylor’ has appeared in a No.1 album title, but of course another first named Taylor (Swift) has had two chart-topping albums in “Speak Now” (8-Nov-10) and last years “Red” (29-Oct-12). Taylor’s album becomes the 167th Australian performed No.1 album, and he is the 89th Australian Act to reach the top, whilst he is also the 192nd Male Artist and the twenty-first Australian Male act to reach the top, the last new one being Harrison Craig back in July.
So after a single week at the top, One Direction drop down a place to No.2 with “Midnight Memories”, whilst climbing up a place to a new peak of No.3 is “Willy Nilly – The 12th Man’s Biggest Hits” for comedian The Twelfth Man, which pushes “Prism” for Katy Perry down to No.4.
Human Nature climb a place to a new peak of No.5 with “The Christmas Album”, whilst Michael Buble returns to the Top 10 with 2011/2012 No.1 album “Christmas”, rising five places to No.6 this week, accumulating its sixteenth week within the Top 10. The self-titled album for Dami Im drops four places to No.7 and Eminem is down three to No.8 with “The Marshall Mathers LP 2”, which is the only new albums certification this week, picking up a ▲Platinum sales credit. Robbie Williams drops a couple of places to No.9 with “Swings Both Ways” and Lorde is down two spots to No.10 with “Pure Heroine”.
NEW PEAKS & MOVERS: Michael Buble and “To Be Loved” is back up to No.20 this week, whilst current tourist Taylor Swift sees her “Red” album jump back up forty places to No.29. Kelly Clarkson’s festive album “Wrapped in Red” leaps up twenty-six places to a new peak of No.38, whilst Bon Jovi started their national tour over the past weekend, but in anticipation their “Greatest Hits” set is back up to No.42. Also touring (and leaping back up) are The Seekers, whose “Golden Jubilee Album” is back up fifty-three places to No.44, whilst further festive albums from Rod Stewart with “Merry Christmas, Baby” is back up fourteen to No.47 and Anthony Callea scores a new peak for his Xmas album “This is Christmas”, which is up nineteen places to No.51.
DOWN DOWN: After six weeks within the Top 10, and the past three weeks at No.10, Tina Arena and “Reset” (HP-4) is down seven places to No.17, whilst “The Best of Nickelback Volume 1” (HP-6) drops nine places to No.18 after two weeks within the ten. “The Very Best of” for INXS drops ten places to No.24 and “Salute” for Little Mix is down nine to No.26, whilst Lady GaGa is down eleven to No.27 with “ArtPop”. Neil Finn and Paul Kelly drop ten places to No.33 with “Goin’ Your Way”, and “The Live Tapes Volume 1” for Cold Chisel (regular edition) is down nine to No.37 this week, with the deluxe edition dropping thirty-five to No.62. “Fire Within” for Birdy drops nine to No.43 and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” soundtrack falls forty-one to No.81, with the biggest drop out coming from last weeks No.19 debut of the ‘iTunes Sessions” for Bernard Fanning, which leaves the Top 100 altogether this week.
ARIA AWARDS: Flume’s self-titled album jumps back up nine places to No.11 this week after he won four ARIA Awards, whilst winning for ‘Best Female Artist’, Jessica Mauboy holds at No.31 with her latest album “Beautiful”, whilst four time nominated Keith Urban didn’t pick up any awards, his tour was announced which helps his album “Fuse” back up fourteen places to No.36 and his collection “The Story So Far” comes back in at No.83. Birds of Tokyo had six nominations (no wins), and their “March Fires” album is back up forty places to No.40, also helped by their support tour with Muse. Tame Impala won three awards, one being ‘Album of the Year’ and Grammy nominated album for “Lonerism”, which helps the album jump back up forty-two places to No.46 this week, whilst ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Air Supply return at No.48 with “The Ultimate Collection” (HP-38). Further returning albums from nominees and performers includes “The Rubens” (#73), “Armageddon” for Guy Sebastian (#75), three times winners Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with “Push the Sky Away” (#80), Bliss N’ Eso with “Circus in the Sky” (#82) and international guest Alicia Keys with “Girl on Fire” is back in at No.86.
The eighth studio album for Britney Spears debuts at No.12 entitled “Britney Jean” (her middle name is Jean) which becomes her first studio album to NOT debut within the Top 10 and her second to do so, as her November 2009 album “The Singles Collection” (HP-23) debuted at No.26. There is no current charting single from the album in Australia, as the last track released, “Perfume” (HP-61) spent a single week on the charts in mid November.
One place lower at No.13 is the fifth studio album for US rock band A Day to Remember, the new set entitled “Common Courtesy”, which becomes their second album to chart in Australia, as their fourth album “What Separates Me from You” climbed to No.24 in the last week of November in 2010.
Ten years ago, the second longest running No.1 album for this decade was spending its 27th of a total twenty-nine weeks at the top of the ARIA Albums chart. “Innocent Eyes” by Delta Goodrem returns to the charts this week at No.22 re-packaged as a 10th Anniversary Edition with a bonus acoustic CD of Delta’s songs.
Lower 50: “Glee: Christmas Album” is up twenty-two places to No.60 this week, whilst Passenger jumps back up twenty-five to No.61 with “All the Little Lights”, with “Dora’s Christmas” climbing back up eighteen spots to No.63. Last weeks the Jake Bugg album “Shangri-La” fell from 38 to 90, this week it recovers back up to No.66, whilst also re-climbing is the Cliff Richard album “The Fabulous Rock ‘N’ Roll Songbook”, back up thirty places to No.70 this week. Further returning albums this week includes “The Christmas Collection” (HP-16) for il Divo at No.85, “Home” (HP-2) by Rudimental at No.91, “Random Access Memories” (HP-1) by Daft Punk at No.98, current tourists Muse with their last album “The 2nd Law” (HP-2) at No.99 and back in at #100 is “The Hurry and the Harm” for City and Colour.
The Simple Plan album from June 2011 has been re-packaged as “Get Your Heart on – The Second Coming”, with The Second Coming being a new seven-track EP from the band; the original album debuted and peaked at No.13. The only other new entry to the lower fifty is in at No.93, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with “Live from KCRW”.
Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
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