• Singles: “Black Beatles” top 10, Guy Sebastian zooms to #12, but James Arthur still #1
• Albums: Illy the chart champ in ARIA Week with his first #1, 12 top 50 chart debuts
Singles
Six weeks on top now for James Arthur securing “Say You Won’t Let Go” into a relatively small club and making the single one of the biggest hits of the year.
As is usual most weeks on the singles’ chart there was little movement near the top. The six weeks on top equals the time spent at #1 by The Chainsmokers with “Closer”. Since August 8 the singles chart has been ruled by just two acts.
The sole new top 10 arrival was Rae Sremmurd with “Black Beatles” jumping from #33 to #5 in its second week on the chart. The song from the Atlanta-based hip hop artists comes from their second album and is giving them significant global chart success.
Sadly just missing a top 10 berth in ARIA Week is Guy Sebastian with his single “Set In Stone” up from #21 to #11 in its third week. We remarked on its somewhat lacklustre debut on release, but it has made up big time with two significant weekly rises since then and with perhaps help from the final two episodes of The X Factor and then an appearance on The ARIA Awards (and surely a performance as the current highest-placed Australian artist on the singles chart) will push it into the top 10. If that happens it will be Sebastian’s 13th time in the top 10.
After six weeks and a bumpy ride in and out of the top 50, Donald Trump resistance fighter John Legend has hit a new peak of 25 with “Love Me Now”.
The highest chart debut inside the top 50 this week is Sweden’s Zara Larsson on her second time on the chart with “I Would Like” at #35.
Meanwhile The Veronicas have taken their time to push “On Your Side” to #39 after five weeks bouncing around in and out of the top 50.
Two other top debuts this week just make our cut:
#45 Samantha Jade & Cyrus with “Hurt Anymore”
#49 The xx with “On Hold”
Albums
The average age of the artists holding down a top 10 spot this week is 56*. That makes the #1 achievement of Illy with his fifth album all the more impressive. He has pushed past the old legends and landed “Two Degrees” at #1 on debut. Jessica Mauboy‘s “The Secret Daughter (Songs from the TV series)” came in at #5 in it’s fifth week in the ratings, and helped keep the average age of the top 10 below a seniors club level.
His new album chart success follows the release of his first, “Cinematic”, which peaked at #4 almost exactly three years ago.
And for those counting – and it will surely get a mention on the Awards show Wednesday night – “Two Degrees” is remarkably the 19th Australian #1 album on the ARIA Chart in 2016.
Death has brought Leonard Cohen posthumous chart success with “You Want It Darker” lifting 18 places just days after his last breath, equalling his best-ever chart success when “Old Ideas” peaked at #2 in February 2012.
It wouldn’t feel like Christmas without some sort of commercial intervention from either one of these two Aussie legends – John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John. Their festive frolic “Friends For Christmas” has been an instant smash, landing the duo at #3 on debut and comes nearly 18 months after the artists were together at #1 on the live album “Two Strong Hearts”.
With Michael Bublé edging higher to #4 with “Christmas”, two of the top four are now Christmas specials.
Also helping push the age index this week is chart vet Phil Collins (but there a four older*) as his “The Singles” lands at #6 and features many of the tracks that have become staples for easy listening stations worldwide. What a career it has been for man who first made his mark as a prog rock drummer.
At the same age as Collins, and with an equally glittering chart career, is Sting whose “57th and 9th” debuts at #9. His 12th solo album has already outperformed many previous chart appearances – including his most recent rock album “Sacred Love” which peaked at #13 September 2003 and more recently “The Last Ship” at #39 September 2013.
Other top 50 debuts this week:
Leonard Cohen (#12), A Tribe Called Quest (#13), Cliff Richard (#15), Emeli Sande (#20), Archie Roach (#24), In Flames (#38), David Bowie (#39), Olly Murs (#42) and Pink Floyd (#47).
*Average of Farnham and Newton-John used (they are only one year apart) while age that Elvis would be now was used. There was one artist under 30, one under 40, and just two more under 50.