Singles
Locked at #1 still is Tones And I with Dance Monkey – Who could have guessed that this unassuming yet hard-to-forget pop single would sit on the ARIA chart for 20 weeks (so far) and rank #1 for 10 of those weeks? In doing so it has set a new Australian record for weeks at #1. (See separate item.)
As well as breaking the Australian record for most weeks at #1, ARIA reports Tones And I this week equals the record for most weeks at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart by a female solo act. The record is also currently held by Sandi Thom’s I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair) (2010) and Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You (1992/93). The current record for most weeks at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart is Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You with 15 non-consecutive weeks at #1 in 2015.
Getting into the top 10 is a challenge as always. Eight of the 10 have been charting for 14 weeks or more and four have been charting for 20 weeks or more.
Watson has also conquered the UK this week to where Dance Monkey has hit #1, moving up from #7 after nine weeks on the chart.
Sam Smith was the only new arrival in the ARIA top 10 this week at #10 and it took How Do You Sleep? 11 weeks to get there.
A single track debuted inside the top 50 this week – Flume with Rushing Back featuring Vera Blue. The song was previewed live at Lollapalooza in the US two months ago where Vera Blue joined Flume onstage during his set.
English singer-songwriter Freya Ridings’ Castles snuck into the top 50 at #48 after three weeks on the chart.
Albums
A group who were apparently quite big the 60s, The Beatles, have stopped just short of claiming top spot with the 50th anniversary reissue of Abbey Road. It was most recently on the ARIA Album Chart in 2009 for the 40th Anniversary rerelease when it peaked at #12.
Previous Beatles’ 50th Anniversary rereleases in Australia have also hit the top 10 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017 and The White Album in 2018.
Abbey Road managed to top the most recent UK album chart and in doing so triggered a number of UK chart records:
Abbey Road is now the album with the longest time between reaching #1 on the Official UK Chart, at 49 years and 252 days. Its initial 17-week run at the top came to end on January 31st 1970. The Beatles previously held the record with their Sgt Pepper’s album, which had a gap of 49 years and 125 days between topping the chart, when its anniversary re-release reached #1 in June 2017.
Originating in Rockhampton is this week’s highest ARIA Album Chart debut – the duo Busby Marou. As their fourth album The Great Divide landed at #5, the local Rockhampton paper helped out with rebranding for the day (see photo). Their previous album Postcards From The Shell House peaked at #1 and three of their four albums have peaked in the top five.
The second of two albums debuting top 10 is Sydney’s Boy & Bear with Suck On Light entering the chart at #7. This is also their fourth album and their previous peaked at #1 – Limit Of Love.
Dean Lewis has re-entered the top 10 at #9 with A Place We Knew after 28 weeks on the chart. The jump follows his appearance at the AFL Grand Final a week ago.
The remaining six of eight new chart entries this week are:
#11 DaBaby with Kirk. The US rapper’s second album after the first, released earlier this year in the US, didn’t chart in Australia.
#12 Complete with Death Rattle. Debut album from the Perth hip hop artist.
#13 Steel Panther with Heavy Metal Rules. New album from glam-metal band still not afraid to both parody and celebrate rock music clichés.
#18 Hermitude with Pollyanarchy. The first album in four years from the Blue Mountains’ electronic hip-hop duo is their sixth and follows Dark Night Sweet Light, which peaked at #1 in 2015.
#20 Opeth with In Cauda Venenum. The 13th album from Swedish progressive metal band.
#25 Hellyeah with Welcome Home is the sixth album from the heavy metal band from Texas.