Dircadirca

19/08/2024 Singles 01 02 13 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 02 03 18 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 03 01 02 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 04 05 18 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 05 04 14 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 06 06 18 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 07 08 30 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 08 07 10 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 09 15 03 09 BIG DAWGS Hanumankind, Kalmi 10 09 15 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 11 11 39 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 12 10 16 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 13 13 23 10 AUSTIN Dasha 14 14 21 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 15 12 14 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 16 17 43 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 17 16 11 01 HOUDINI Eminem 18 18 02 18 APPLE Charli XCX 19 25 51 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 20 RE 20 01 BYE BYE BYE *NSYNC 21 20 31 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 22 19 12 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 23 28 08 23 KEHLANI Jordan Adetunji 24 21 109 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 25 26 21 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 26 23 17 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 27 29 09 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 28 27 73 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 29 22 13 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 30 34 07 18 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 31 31 209 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 32 30 08 30 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 33 32 21 18 BELONG TOGETHER Mark Ambor 34 24 10 24 360 Charli XCX 35 33 03 18 GUY FOR THAT Post Malone feat. Luke Combs 36 37 21 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 37 38 80 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 38 40 27 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 39 39 23 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 40 35 09 20 DEVIL IS A LIE Tommy Richman 41 NE 01 41 BACKBONE Chase & Status, Stormzy 42 43 160 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 43 42 26 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 44 45 09 36 MISSES Dominic Fike 45 57 03 45 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 46 44 13 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 47 46 216 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 48 41 12 09 BAND4BAND Central Cee feat. Lil Baby 49 47 10 39 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 50 52 214 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac Bubbling Under Nothing this week! Albums 01 NE 001 01 SUNDAY SADNESS Amy Shark 02 02 013 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 03 NE 001 03 WHATEVER, WHATEVER Grinspoon 04 05 017 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 05 06 018 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 NE 001 06 THIS IS HOW TOMORROW MOVES Beabadoobee 07 07 010 03 BRAT Charli XCX 08 NE 001 08 FLIGHT B741 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard 09 08 184 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 10 04 002 04 VULTURES 2 ¥$, Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign 11 10 076 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 12 NE 001 12 KILL THE DEAD 3% 13 12 069 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 14 15 169 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 15 13 049 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 16 16 212 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 17 17 088 01 SOS SZA 18 11 008 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 19 09 005 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 20 18 260 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 21 RE 011 03 THE FIRST TIME The Kid Laroi 22 19 042 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 23 22 375 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 24 21 062 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 25 14 055 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 26 25 353 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 27 NE 001 27 MIDNIGHT ZOO Dice 28 23 335 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 29 26 098 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 30 NE 001 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris 31 27 447 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 32 30 018 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 33 31 492 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 34 33 430 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 35 28 006 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 36 36 092 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 37 38 263 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 38 20 004 02 ATE Stray Kids 39 40 051 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 40 35 323 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 41 32 003 30 DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Soundtrack 42 39 281 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 43 44 094 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 44 34 019 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 45 43 188 02 DANGEROUS: THE DOUBLE ALBUM Morgan Wallen 46 42 023 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 47 41 114 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 48 45 304 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen 49 37 289 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 50 55 320 01 AM Arctic Monkeys Remember a little while back when Shaboozey was stuck not getting to #1 and seemed like his chance might be up, and then he spent a solid while at #1? Most of that has happened so far for "BIRDS OF A FEATHER", notably the important part of getting to #1. Billie Eilish is technically replacing herself at #1, which hasn't happened on the singles chart since Drake did so in 2018, with "God's Plan" and "Nice For What" as you'd expect. Taylor Swift also did this twice on the album chart this year in permutations that you have no reason to recall. Belatedly we've got a re-entry for *NSYNC. If they were on last week's chart, I could've said that this week's top 35 is the same as last week's top 35 in a slightly different order. But wait, the chart isn't that boring, we've got an actual debut. From Chase & Status no less, who I have it on good authority have never charted in Australia before now. The significant different commercial viability of drum & bass is usually one of the key differences between Australia and New Zealand's charts, even today. Gracie Abrams also has a new entry. I apologise if anyone finds the emojis overbearing but I didn't expect I'd have to be hoisting them for a 3rd week in a row. 🚨🚨 AUSTRALIAN #1 ALBUM ALERT 🚨🚨. Amy Shark becomes the latest artist to continue their #1 album streak in spite of diminished returns on the singles chart. She's gone one better than the other two as she's got 3 #1 albums now. She leads a week of what must be the most Australian content we've gotten all year. 6 albums in the top 50, that's almost halfway to the quota that we're supposed to be getting. Though she's not directly responsible for it, Amy Shark getting to #1 means that Grinspoon continue their run of never being able to get there. I remember them having an interview on the radio over a decade ago (uh oh) that they had a habit of constantly releasing against the wrong competition and not getting there, but they've only actually had two #2 albums. beabadoobee continues to re-write history into convincing people that maybe she gave Powfu a hit with her own influence as she scores her first ever top 10 album. Then we go back to Australian artists without a #1 album, I'd say how many King Gizz are up to but it might go out of date by the time I hit 'Add reply'. Also debuting this week are the Australian trio 3% with their first album. There's three of them but also 3% is roughly the percentage of Australians who are Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders. Just the other day I was thinking about how I don't see many football references in Australian music lately but the album cover re-creates Nicky Winmar's iconic shirt lift from 1993. Speaking of Indigenous Australians, The Kid LAROI also returns with his most recent album boosted by some more tracks. In case you were wondering, "NIGHTS LIKE THIS PT. 2" was not combined otherwise he'd be a bit higher on the singles chart this week. At #27 this week is the first album from DICE, who are not only from Western Australia but my support worker has played with them on occasion so I have a conflict of interest when I say I think they're pretty good. Lastly Calvin Harris enters with an album that will potentially drop very, very slowly. Also remember when I said that Luke Combs had the longest charting album without dropping out until it dropped out? There's a secondary version of that because Elton John's "Diamonds" has spent the most weeks in a row on the chart at present on a re-entry. By dropping down to #40, it's the lowest position it's been in over 5 years, so maybe it's at risk as well.

Fine then I'll just take a nickel for every time someone predicted something but waited until after it happened to say it ;)

Damn, if I had a nickel for every time a song was declared a flop on day one and got a new peak afterwards, I wouldn't be posting on here anymore.

+30 Porter Robinson - Sad Machine +29 BANKS - Beggin' for Thread +28 Katy B - Crying For No Reason +27 Lana Del Rey - West Coast +26 Röyksopp & Robyn - Do It Again +25 Weeknd - Often +24 Röyksopp & Robyn - Monument +23 First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining +22 FKA Twigs - Two Weeks +21 Lorde - Yellow Flicker Beat +20 Magician (feat. Years & Years) – Sunlight +19 HAIM - If I Could Change Your Mind +18 Ten Walls - Walking With Elephants +17 Watermat - Bullit +16 Lorde - Team +15 DJ Snake & Lil Jon - Turn Down For What +14 Foxes - Let Go For Tonight +13 Marina and the Diamonds – Froot +12 Klingande - Jubel +11 Ariana Grande (feat. The Weeknd) - Love Me Harder +10 Oliver Heldens & Becky Hill - Gecko (Overdrive) +9 Duke Dumont (feat. Jax Jones) - I Got U +8 Lorde - 400 Lux +7 Lilly Wood and The Prick - Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Remix) +6 Coldplay – Midnight +5 Route 94 (feat. Jess Glynne) - My Love +4 Little Mix - Salute +3 alt-J - Every Other Freckle +2 J. Cole - No Role Modelz +1 Tinashe (feat. Schoolboy Q) - 2 On

+5 Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER +4 Myles Smith - Stargazing +3 Charli xcx - Apple +2 Jordan Adetunji - KEHLANI +1 Charli xcx - Guess -1 BL3SS & CamrinWatsin - Kisses -2 Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please -3 Dasha - Austin -4 Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe! -5 Eminem - Houdini Not really feeling this one

"Dreams" was already doing pretty well before that video happened. I reckon at this point it's just riding (no pun intended) on its own momentum.

I think in fairness, the nature of the charts exaggerates "Mr. Brightside" to an extent compared to its contemporaries. Since streaming has been part of the chart, it's accumulated over 300 weeks in the Official Top 100, while for instance "Somebody Told Me", which gets nearly half as many streams as it every day, has managed 0 weeks in the same period. Anything that just skates by on the chart in perpetuity is gonna look bigger than it is, while anything that's just outside feels like it's in no man's land, completely forgotten and un-appreciated.

This is global but I assume it's telling enough

12/08/2024 Singles 01 NE 01 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 02 02 12 02 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 03 01 17 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 04 03 13 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 05 05 17 05 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 06 04 17 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 07 06 09 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 08 07 29 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 09 08 14 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 10 10 15 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 11 09 38 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 12 13 13 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 13 11 22 10 AUSTIN Dasha 14 12 20 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 15 74 02 15 BIG DAWGS Hanumankind, Kalmi 16 14 10 01 HOUDINI Eminem 17 15 42 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 18 NE 01 18 APPLE Charli XCX 19 16 11 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 20 21 30 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 21 20 108 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 22 23 12 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 23 17 16 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 24 27 09 24 360 Charli XCX 25 19 50 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 26 24 20 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 27 26 72 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 28 45 07 28 KEHLANI Jordan Adetunji 29 29 08 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 30 41 07 30 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 31 30 208 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 32 28 20 18 BELONG TOGETHER Mark Ambor 33 18 02 18 GUY FOR THAT Post Malone feat. Luke Combs 34 25 06 18 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 35 31 08 20 DEVIL IS A LIE Tommy Richman 36 22 04 22 DID IT FIRST Ice Spice, Central Cee 37 32 20 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 38 37 79 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 39 35 22 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 40 38 26 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 41 33 11 09 BAND4BAND Central Cee feat. Lil Baby 42 40 25 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 43 34 159 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 44 53 12 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 45 36 08 36 MISSES Dominic Fike 46 48 215 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 47 42 09 39 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 48 39 05 28 LIES LIES LIES Morgan Wallen 49 49 12 07 CHIHIRO Billie Eilish 50 51 47 02 GREEDY Tate McRae Bubbling Under Nothing this week! Albums 01 NE 001 01 BEAUTIFULLY ORDINARY Tones And I 02 02 012 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 03 NE 001 03 THE DELUGE Fanning Dempsey National Park 04 NE 001 04 VULTURES 2 ¥$, Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign 05 03 016 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 06 05 017 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 07 06 009 03 BRAT Charli XCX 08 08 183 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 09 04 004 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 10 09 075 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 11 13 007 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 12 14 068 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 13 15 048 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 14 11 054 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 15 17 168 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 16 18 211 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 17 16 087 01 SOS SZA 18 19 259 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 19 21 041 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 20 07 003 02 ATE Stray Kids 21 20 061 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 22 24 374 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 23 23 334 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 24 01 002 01 ENOUGH OF THE SWEET TALK Lime Cordiale 25 25 352 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 26 27 097 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 27 26 446 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 28 22 005 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 29 NE 001 29 IF IT SUCKS, TURN IT UP Dune Rats 30 32 017 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 31 31 491 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 32 30 002 30 DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Soundtrack 33 33 429 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 34 36 018 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 35 28 322 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 36 39 091 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 37 34 288 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 38 35 262 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 39 38 280 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 40 37 050 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 41 40 113 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 42 41 022 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 43 42 187 02 DANGEROUS: THE DOUBLE ALBUM Morgan Wallen 44 45 093 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 45 46 303 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen 46 NE 001 46 SINCERE Khalid 47 48 004 04 CHARM Clairo 48 NE 001 48 THE NECKLACE Allday 49 47 194 01 BORN TO DIE Lana Del Rey 50 44 251 02 DAMN. Kendrick Lamar A huge week for Charli XCX. After registering 0 sales last week, "Apple" has managed to jump right into the top 20 in a near unprecedented sales acceleration for a song that's been out for 2 months. Also "Guess" is at #1. For those who are interested in that sort of thing, I can personally guarantee that Billie Eilish was not credited when the chart first dropped on Friday afternoon but at some point since then she's been added to that, so now she can only blame herself for blocking herself. As the first week sales calm down, it's possible that "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" could grab the top spot next week, but still too close to call with 3 days left to go. Hanumankind & Kalmi both burst into the top 20 this week. It's the sort of entry that has you wondering who the highest charting Indian artist is until you remember that A.R. Rahman had a #1 single in 2009. I can't believe I'm doing this in back to back weeks but I must once again subject you to 🚨🚨 AUSTRALIAN #1 ALBUM ALERT 🚨🚨. I also must issue a warning to anyone who makes it part of their personality to become a raging sociopath that has to remind everyone that they really don't like a song that came out over 5 years ago that Tones And I has a second #1 album. Fortunately I haven't seen too much of that recently. This one doesn't seem to be linked with NFTs either, hurrah! This week also has huge news for Australian men in their 40s. Not only are Carlton temporarily out of the 8 (lol), but there's a new collaborative album from Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey. If you don't fall roughly into that age group, then I'll let you know that Bernard Fanning is from Powderfinger, probably the highest selling band domestically in the last 30 years, and Paul Dempsey is from Something For Kate, who are not the highest selling band domestically in the last 30 years but they are probably one of the best, and Paul is possibly the tallest man in Australian music. Notably, Something For Kate have never won an ARIA Award and they probably have Powderfinger to blame for snatching them in their stead. No bad blood then obviously. Once upon a time, Dune Rats were at #1 with a self-deprecating album title. This week they're at #29 with a self-deprecating album title. Also imagine telling someone in 2019 that Khalid would soon only barely debut ahead of a month old Clairo album. Lastly we've got Allday scoring his 6th top 50 album, which also contributes to the shocking chart moment as Luke Combs' second album has finally fallen out of the top 50 for the first time ever. This means that "folklore" is now the longest charting album to have never dropped out. Pretty wild considering it was sitting at #49 on the chart 2 years ago. ARIA have also swung an axe to the CCR compilation after about a year of just chilling on the chart.

Yeah, I find the global uniformity of it all one of the most interesting aspects. It's a fair argument to say that the US/UK/Can/Aus/NZ charts are more alike than ever before, but how much of it is due to global TikTok influence, and how much is a phantom streaming algorithm that's guiding listeners along, and for songs no one had tabs on for suspicious inflation? Local hitmakers just can't compete* *Just to compound this, Chase & Status have soared into the top spot in the UK right now, they also popped up top 40 in Australia, having almost never appeared on any chart here whatsoever prior to this.

Anyone else notice a whole bunch of capitulations for fairly established hits last week? Was just running through the Australian chart (although it seems a lot of this is consistent across different countries) and as soon as August 1st hit, there were huge drops for "Babydoll", "As It Was", "Fast Car", "Iris", "Snooze" etc, and most of all "Flowers", just losing 20% of its streams instantly and dropping straight out of the UK weekly chart from #93! Kinda crazy to think such a huge chunk of any current hit's streams can just be switched on and off like that.

No you're right, it did go to #1 in Australia :heehee:

+5 Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us +4 Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER +3 Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy) +2 Myles Smith - Stargazing +1 Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please -1 BL3SS & CamrinWatsin - Kisses (feels like it's been so long since I've had to look up a random rising top 10 hit since it's not charting over here. The more ignoble Reshuffle streak continues however) -2 Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso -3 Dasha - Austin -4 Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe! -5 Eminem - Houdini

05/08/2024 Singles 01 01 16 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 02 02 11 02 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 03 04 12 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 04 03 16 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 05 08 16 05 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 06 05 08 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 07 06 09 27 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 08 07 13 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 09 10 37 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 10 09 14 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 11 12 21 10 AUSTIN Dasha 12 13 19 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 13 14 12 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 14 11 09 01 HOUDINI Eminem 15 15 41 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 16 17 10 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 17 16 15 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 18 NE 01 18 GUY FOR THAT Post Malone feat. Luke Combs 19 22 49 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 20 25 107 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 21 19 29 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 22 31 03 22 DID IT FIRST Ice Spice, Central Cee 23 20 11 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 24 23 19 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 25 18 05 18 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 26 21 71 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 27 35 08 27 360 Charli XCX 28 26 19 18 BELONG TOGETHER Mark Ambor 29 27 07 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 30 34 207 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 31 24 07 20 DEVIL IS A LIE Tommy Richman 32 29 19 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 33 30 10 09 BAND4BAND Central Cee feat. Lil Baby 34 43 158 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 35 32 21 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 36 37 07 36 MISSES Dominic Fike 37 38 78 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 38 36 25 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 39 28 04 28 LIES LIES LIES Morgan Wallen 40 33 24 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 41 40 06 40 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 42 50 08 39 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 43 98 19 11 FE!N Travis Scott feat. Playboi Carti 44 41 04 41 28 Zach Bryan 45 42 06 42 KEHLANI Jordan Adetunji 46 47 70 02 FAST CAR Luke Combs 47 39 15 05 I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART Taylor Swift 48 48 214 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 49 44 11 07 CHIHIRO Billie Eilish 50 49 212 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac Bubbling Under Nothing this week! Albums 01 NE 001 01 ENOUGH OF THE SWEET TALK Lime Cordiale 02 03 011 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 03 04 015 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 04 01 003 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 05 06 016 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 07 008 03 BRAT Charli XCX 07 02 002 02 ATE Stray Kids 08 09 182 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 09 10 074 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 10 NE 001 10 ASK THAT GOD Empire Of The Sun 11 33 053 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 12 NE 001 12 RITE HERE RITE NOW Ghost 13 11 006 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 14 15 067 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 15 08 047 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 16 12 086 01 SOS SZA 17 16 167 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 18 20 210 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 19 17 258 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 20 21 060 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 21 18 040 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 22 14 004 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 23 22 333 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 24 25 373 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 25 24 351 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 26 23 445 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 27 26 096 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 28 28 321 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 29 35 200 16 CHRONICLE: THE 20 GREATEST HITS Creedence Clearwater Revival 30 NE 001 30 DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Soundtrack 31 32 490 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 32 31 016 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 33 36 428 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 34 70 287 01 ASTROWORLD Travis Scott 35 38 261 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 36 44 017 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 37 42 049 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 38 39 279 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 39 47 090 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 40 45 112 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 41 37 021 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 42 48 186 02 DANGEROUS: THE DOUBLE ALBUM Morgan Wallen 43 46 247 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 44 53 250 02 DAMN. Kendrick Lamar 45 41 092 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 46 50 302 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen 47 55 193 01 BORN TO DIE Lana Del Rey 48 34 003 04 CHARM Clairo 49 60 093 36 STUDIO ALBUMS ABBA 50 57 203 40 GREATEST HITS Pitbull "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" is #1 for a 5th week. If you're looking for change, well you might get it next week. Billie Eilish continues to trim away at the lead and looks to be right in the mix next week. Alternatively we have the new debut chaos that's hard to predict so maybe Charli XCX will just debut at #1? Actually if you want to put maybes around, maybe she'll have 2 debuts next week. It has occurred to me that "Apple" still isn't on the ARIA Chart, maybe next week they'll do something about that. In any case, she'll certainly end that hegemony of the same songs in the top 15 we've had for months. If you need more proof, Post Malone can't quite debut in there this week. He seems to be driven by a strong sales week as the song only got to #24 on the Spotify chart. It's also the only debut we've had in the last 2 weeks. This means I'm once again teasing the possibility of the return of the Bubbling Under chart, but probably not next week. As I'm probably going to loudly edit into the subheader after I post this, 🚨🚨 AUSTRALIAN #1 ALBUM ALERT 🚨🚨. We have not had an Australian at #1 on either chart all year until now. Getting that honour is the 3rd album for Lime Cordiale. If you recall, their 2nd album also debuted at #1 and had an egregious number of singles that preceded it and ensured it a strong streaming fortune for months to come. This one also has a similar situation as it already has 5 triple j Hottest 100 entries on it. Ominously, only the title track is sitting in their top 6 tracks right now according to last.fm, so it's probably not going to hang around quite as long unless Americans decide it's really funny that there's a song called "Imposter Syndrome". Despite the rumours that they only ever made 2 songs, Empire Of The Sun return with their 4th album which maintains their run of hitting the top 10 with every one of them. I also tempted fate last week as we've now got 2 new soundtrack albums in the chart. One from Ghost, and yet another MCU one. I'm currently engaging in a slow Clockwork Orange-like experience of watching all of those MCU films for the first time so if there's still any life left in me, maybe I'll have a quippy remark about it next time.

+5 Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us +4 Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER +3 JADE - Angel Of My Dreams +2 Jimin - Who +1 Myles Smith - Stargazing -1 Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please -2 Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso -3 Dasha - Austin -4 Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe! -5 Eminem - Houdini

29/07/2024 Singles 01 01 15 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 02 03 10 02 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 03 02 15 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 04 05 11 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 05 04 07 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 06 06 08 27 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 07 07 12 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 08 11 15 08 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 09 09 13 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 10 10 36 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 11 06 08 01 HOUDINI Eminem 12 13 20 10 AUSTIN Dasha 13 12 18 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 14 14 11 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 15 16 40 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 16 15 14 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 17 19 09 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 18 20 04 18 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 19 23 28 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 20 22 10 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 21 26 70 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 22 27 48 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 23 34 18 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 24 24 06 20 DEVIL IS A LIE Tommy Richman 25 31 106 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 26 37 18 18 BELONG TOGETHER Mark Ambor 27 39 06 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 28 33 03 28 LIES LIES LIES Morgan Wallen 29 25 18 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 30 30 09 09 BAND4BAND Central Cee feat. Lil Baby 31 47 02 31 DID IT FIRST Ice Spice, Central Cee 32 44 20 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 33 45 23 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 34 40 206 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 35 51 07 35 360 Charli XCX 36 42 24 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 37 69 06 37 MISSES Dominic Fike 38 41 77 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 39 43 14 05 I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART Taylor Swift 40 50 05 40 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 41 53 03 41 28 Zach Bryan 42 61 05 42 KEHLANI Jordan Adetunji 43 62 157 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 44 52 10 07 CHIHIRO Billie Eilish 45 55 119 01 AS IT WAS Harry Styles 46 54 45 02 GREEDY Tate McRae 47 57 69 02 FAST CAR Luke Combs 48 58 213 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 49 63 211 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 50 RE 07 39 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs Bubbling Under Nothing this week! Albums 01 01 002 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 02 NE 001 02 ATE Stray Kids 03 02 010 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 04 03 014 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 05 NE 001 05 I LOVE YOU SO F***ING MUCH Glass Animals 06 05 015 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 07 06 007 03 BRAT Charli XCX 08 17 046 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 09 07 181 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 10 08 073 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 11 11 005 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 12 12 085 01 SOS SZA 13 NE 001 13 WHO REALLY CARES TV Girl 14 09 003 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 15 13 066 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 16 14 166 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 17 15 257 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 18 16 039 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 19 NE 001 19 FRENCH EXIT TV Girl 20 18 209 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 21 21 059 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 22 22 332 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 23 19 444 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 24 24 350 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 25 23 372 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 26 25 095 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 27 NE 001 27 MUSE Jimin 28 26 320 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 29 NE 001 29 TWISTERS: THE ALBUM Soundtrack 30 NE 001 30 BANDO STONE AND THE NEW WORLD Childish Gambino 31 29 015 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 32 30 489 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 33 48 052 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 34 04 002 04 CHARM Clairo 35 31 199 16 CHRONICLE: THE 20 GREATEST HITS Creedence Clearwater Revival 36 33 427 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 37 37 020 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 38 35 260 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 39 36 278 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 40 34 141 01 RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 41 39 091 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 42 41 048 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 43 RE 010 03 TAKE ME BACK TO EDEN Sleep Token 44 38 016 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 45 44 111 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 46 47 246 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 47 42 089 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 48 40 185 02 DANGEROUS: THE DOUBLE ALBUM Morgan Wallen 49 52 317 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 50 50 301 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" is #1 for a 4th week. The threat of Billie Eilish getting to #1 is slightly more pronounced this week as she's actually #2 now, but still doesn't seem to be slimming the margin fast enough to get there next week. The top 15 seems to be incapable of receiving new hits lately so maybe she'll eventually benefit from lack of competition. Or maybe a new #1 hit will drop tomorrow? You just never know. On the other hand, it's so especially pronounced this week that we have zero debuts, just a few could've been debuts if they didn't already sneak in two weeks ago. The chart is almost a 1:1 of two weeks ago with all of Eminem's debuts dropping out and largely replaced by the songs he pushed out last week. Ironically one of his lowest entries last week, "Somebody Save Me", is now his second highest song, probably just outside of the top 50. It's all still enough for him to retain the #1 spot on the album chart for a second week. As every song from the album bar "Houdini" has left the Spotify top 200, I suspect Billie Eilish & Taylor Swift will retain their standings as the streaming giants doing the biggest numbers again and overtake him. Can never be totally sure if that's what gets to #1 though, because I never really know how big incoming debuts are gonna be. Maybe that's on me, because this is the 3rd time that Stray Kids have debuted at #2, putting them in rare air that might allow me to compare them to Radiohead if they do it again. Also this week, Glass Animals return with their highest charting album ever. Australia is the only country where all of their albums have made the top 20. Halfway to achieving that feat this week is TV Girl. A big rush of vinyl sales for their catalogue gives them their first ever chart appearances here, as two of their albums debut in the top 20. Jimin gets his first ever album chart entry, reaching the base appeal in Australia of the letters 'MUSE' in all-caps. We've got the increasingly rare treat of a new movie soundtrack to continue that time capsule, and also Childish Gambino is back with his latest curious pivot.

I'll deny it, he has more monthly Spotify listeners than he did a year ago, or any time before that. Two-thirds of his streams are as a lead artist, which isn't especially out of the ordinary. Probably still true, but we need to see a new project to be sure. If his career was really over just because everyone started clowning on him, then that would've happened a decade ago I'd think. (Dunno why I'm defending Drake but I keep seeing claims akin to him needing Camila's help to chart in 2024 and it just makes no sense to me, like have I missed the supposed Drake solo single before this one that didn't chart?)

Unironically, making my own personal chart makes me get less worked up about what does/doesn't become a hit. Not just because I indulge in my own fantasy, but because with hindsight I can't even make the best-aging decisions about it myself sometimes, so why throw stones :lol:

It's interesting when we have specific perspectives repeated to us. I feel you can get a bit of selective hearing that makes them sound more profound. Like I don't doubt that there are many people with experiences of discussing the latest charts with their schoolyard chums but it's always just a totally foreign concept to me. In real life I never encountered any such enthusiasts, even from people who lived & breathed top 40 as a genre. I found many more when I went online in my adult years which just makes that the point in time that feels like the most 'significant' time in charts, but deep down I know it's totally arbitrary. There probably are way more people invested in charts nowadays anyway, just that they don't fit that neutral observer archetype like they once did. I feel like that's a slowly dying breed in online subcultures and it's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means vagabonds have found their calling and are sticking with it. Or everyone's too busy binging TV shows online to give their 2 cents on everything else, something like that. Something I find though is that there's a wholesomeness into continuing to ascribe passion to something that in the grand scheme of things...isn't important. Like, even if there is less interest in music charts overall, that's totally fine, and you're totally valid for finding interest in it. When something has morphed over time, it can lose popularity but that doesn't necessarily mean there's something fundamentally wrong and we're all inevitably abandoning ship. It can mean that it serves a more niche audience, who might be more interested than ever. When I was younger, I was effectively bamboozled into finding significance in a weekly (non-official) music chart. I say bamboozled because I read into it far more significance than it ever warranted. Bands and artists that very few people ever heard of, and far fewer still remember felt like titans to me. In a time when I was desperately lonely, directionless and otherwise high on anxiety, a music chart gave me something to look forward to, something to speculate on, something to think about when I was waiting 40 minutes every morning at school to enter the classroom because my mum dropped me off super early. All this while being something I spoke to practically no one about. You do not need the often astroturfed artificial feeling of significance to feel it for yourself. I say more power to the people who do feel the weight of the world with all chart happenings, even if it is just a 5% increase in week on week streams for a song that's charting at #865. It's really neat.

And I've said it before but why does it matter the exact machinations of how someone lands on a stream? I largely do my music listening through a double-nested set of Smart Playlists that dynamically updates itself and makes sure I don't hear the same old songs over and over again. Then I just hit the shuffle button. Simultaneously way more effort and way less effort than most people. If people didn't like the music that's on Today's Top Hits or whatever, they just wouldn't listen to it anymore. If they don't like that one song, they skip it. I don't like the insinuation that everyone but me is an automaton with no agency in the music they choose to listen to. It only looks that way because once you collate millions of people's listens together, you're just not going to see that individual freedom of choice on display, but it is there, being tugged at in a million directions at once. And I like the gross genre elitism even less, yucky.

Can also almost guarantee that if people saw what the chart looked like under that ruling, they'd almost immediately like it even less than the current system.

Everyone always says this but I suspect the empirical data would do more to knee-cap buzzed about current hits rather than the ironed-on ones. People on last.fm have been scrobbling "Mr. Brightside" for 20 years and counting. On average they've listened to it 12 times each. By comparison, it's taken 2 months for Billie Eilish's "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" to reach an average of 15 plays per person. It doesn't feel like a fruitful pursuit.

22/07/2024 Singles 01 01 14 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 02 02 14 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 03 04 09 03 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 04 03 06 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 05 06 10 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 06 10 07 01 HOUDINI Eminem 07 05 11 05 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 08 08 26 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 09 07 12 01 MILLION DOLLAR BABY Tommy Richman 10 13 35 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 11 09 14 09 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 12 11 17 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 13 12 19 10 AUSTIN Dasha 14 14 10 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 15 15 13 01 FORTNIGHT Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone 16 17 39 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 17 NE 01 17 HABITS Eminem 18 NE 01 18 RENAISSANCE Eminem 19 16 08 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 20 19 03 19 GIRLS The Kid Laroi 21 NE 01 21 BRAND NEW DANCE Eminem 22 20 09 05 LUNCH Billie Eilish 23 26 27 12 SCARED TO START Michael Marcagi 24 18 05 20 DEVIL IS A LIE Tommy Richman 25 21 17 03 I LIKE THE WAY YOU KISS ME Artemas 26 23 69 01 CRUEL SUMMER Taylor Swift 27 22 47 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan Feat. Kacey Musgraves 28 NE 01 28 FUEL Eminem 29 38 02 29 TOBEY Eminem, Big Sean, BabyTron 30 24 08 09 BAND4BAND Central Cee feat. Lil Baby 31 25 105 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 32 NE 01 32 EVIL Eminem 33 35 02 33 LIES LIES LIES Morgan Wallen 34 27 17 22 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 35 NE 01 35 TROUBLE Eminem 36 NE 01 36 LUCIFER Eminem 37 28 17 18 BELONG TOGETHER Mark Ambor 38 NE 01 38 ANTICHRIST Eminem 39 29 05 26 NIGHTS LIKE THIS The Kid Laroi 40 34 205 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 41 33 76 01 LAST NIGHT Morgan Wallen 42 30 23 15 STUMBLIN' IN Cyril 43 37 13 05 I CAN DO IT WITH A BROKEN HEART Taylor Swift 44 31 19 02 WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE) Ariana Grande 45 32 22 03 END OF BEGINNING Djo 46 NE 01 46 GUILTY CONSCIENCE 2 Eminem 47 NE 01 47 DID IT FIRST Ice Spice, Central Cee 48 NE 01 48 SOMEBODY SAVE ME Eminem 49 NE 01 49 TEMPORARY Eminem 50 41 04 41 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan Bubbling Under Nothing this week! Albums 01 NE 001 01 THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) Eminem 02 01 009 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 03 02 013 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 04 NE 001 04 CHARM Clairo 05 04 014 04 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 06 07 006 03 BRAT Charli XCX 07 08 180 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 08 05 072 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 09 03 002 03 THE GREAT AMERICAN BAR SCENE Zach Bryan 10 NE 001 10 ONLY ONE MODE Speed 11 06 004 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 12 09 084 01 SOS SZA 13 11 065 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 14 10 165 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 15 12 256 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 16 13 038 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 17 14 045 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 18 15 208 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 19 20 443 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 20 45 008 04 I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING BUT THERAPY (PART 1) Teddy Swims 21 18 058 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 22 21 331 07 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 23 19 371 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 24 16 349 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 25 17 094 01 MIDNIGHTS Taylor Swift 26 22 319 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 27 NE 001 27 VERTIGO Griff 28 NE 001 28 NOTHING TO SHOW Complete 29 24 014 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 30 28 488 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 31 26 198 16 CHRONICLE: THE 20 GREATEST HITS Creedence Clearwater Revival 32 NE 001 32 X'S Cigarettes After Sex 33 29 426 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 34 36 140 01 RED (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 35 30 259 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 36 33 277 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 37 27 019 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 38 34 015 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 39 35 090 05 THE ESSENTIAL Foo Fighters 40 32 184 02 DANGEROUS: THE DOUBLE ALBUM Morgan Wallen 41 31 047 02 ZACH BRYAN Zach Bryan 42 37 088 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 43 48 339 01 THE EMINEM SHOW Eminem 44 38 110 15 LOOK AT ME: THE ALBUM XXXTentacion 45 52 178 01 EVERMORE Taylor Swift 46 25 005 03 FATHERS & SONS Luke Combs 47 39 245 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 48 44 051 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 49 NE 001 49 INCARNATION In Hearts Wake 50 41 300 01 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) Queen "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" is #1 for a 3rd week. Back in 2019 it seemed as though the 24 week reign of "Dance Monkey" was a sign of the times going forward. 2024 seems to disagree because we've had 11 different #1 hits in about the same time frame. Maybe this is our new song to break this trend in the same way, just being slightly ahead of the competition for an extended period. Billie Eilish has started to dethrone him on Spotify, but Apple & iTunes are gonna require a much bigger margin to make it over the line. Eminem arrives with many new entries this week. With 13 songs in the top 50, it's the most he's ever simultaneously charted, but in 2018 he actually managed more debuts at once, with 12 new entries that week. My interesting anecdote of this is that "Guilty Conscience" actually never charted in Australia back in the day, so if you were simply following the top 50 without any outsider influence, you'd have no clue what this song is supposed to be a sequel to. You might not even know that the music video (but not the album version) has narration from the iconic Robert Culp. What's your favourite Columbo performance from him? Mine has got to be "Double Exposure" for the quintessential cat-and-mouse game that it is. The scene where he avoids implicating himself by driving to a not-yet-revealed murder location gets me every time. Ice Spice also debuts this week and for the first time ever, she has the first name on a charting entry. Sadly Australian music listeners are not even the fart, much less the shit. Also remember last week when I said that the Bubbling Under chart was on the verge of returning? This week was a massive boon in that as the bottom song on the New Music chart is #43 this week, with only 1 further eligible song in the top 50. Eminem might clear some space next week, but he's also contributing strongly to that chart so it might just cancel out in a couple of weeks. Eminem scores his 11th #1 album this week. You may also be willing to call it his 12th #1 album if you include the "8 Mile" soundtrack, but I'll leave that up to you. The mass exodus of his tracks on the streaming charts suggests a relatively short stay but he's probably good for a second week at least. In what can only be described as a massive plot twist, Clairo who has never made the top 50 before, now arrives at #4. This means that I've never had the chance to put a dreadfully bad joke in this column that causes everyone to walk out the door with their bags. Or to extend my fascination of how much Claire Rosinkranz's "don't miss me" sounds like a parody version of her fellow Claire's recently released "Amoeba". Anyway I need to get around to listening to this album because I heard an album track from it on the radio the other day that sounded pretty good but I don't remember what it was called. Anyway, this week's ACTUAL AUSTRALIAN CONTENT comes in threes, and somewhat different threes but also not really. It's not often that an Australian artist can surpass the tall-poppy syndrome (or the 'who?' syndrome) of our online comment sections, but there is genuinely quite a bit of enthusiasm for the hardcore group Speed. They had a top 5 EP a couple of years ago and now have a top 10 album. Also this week, I have often lamented the fact that the Australian hip-hop canon in the charts kind of just stopped building after around 2014, or just when The Kid LAROI decided to stop rapping. Anyway, we do have the return of Complete this week. Back in 2019 he had a #12 album, which has a song with 47 million plays on Spotify, real Hilltop Hoods numbers. He doesn't have that viral hit around this time but he does return to the top 50 this week. Lastly there's In Hearts Wake sneaking through. A Far cry from their frequent top 5 appearances but we take what we can get nowadays. In the midst of this, Griff & Cigarettes After Sex make their first appearances. Wouldn't have guessed they'd be in that order but whaddaya know.

Feel like a factor comes in that the constant influx of new, massive hits has dried up to an extent. Like the top 10 is still relatively fresh, but it's also still largely the same stuff from over a month ago, and that can only sustain itself for so long.

New Zealand have a chart vaguely of this nature, which tracks week-on-week gains on overall chart metrics plus airplay for some reason (which doesn't factor in the actual chart). If you're in the interest of seeing deeper cuts get some level of chart representation in the Anglosphere, then it's just about your best bet, but I don't think anyone's flocking to look at it now that I've said this. I find this approach just kind of leads to data for the sake of data and it's somewhat meaningless in terms of actually capturing audience habits in a meaningful way. How often is anyone's first listen to a song also their most profound experience with it? How often is it just finding out a notable artist has listened to a new song and checking it out to see if it's any good? I listen to nearly 100 new songs a week and only save about 5 or 6 of them for future listening. I'd hate for my chart contribution to just be one-to-one on everything I listened to, with all-time favourite and forgotten filler treated the same. It's actually my favourite thing about the prioritising of streams compared to downloads. You're actually weighting that significance with your listening habits. I understand that this leads to an inherently more 'boring' chart, but it's far more accurate. It's where I come at odds with any sort of chart tinkering generally. How much can people be willing to distort the reality for the sake of a more interesting picture? How cognizant of this distortion can one be while also convincing themselves that the Frankenchart holds credibility? It's like playing Chess against the same pre-programmed bot over and over again. Eventually you're gonna piece together its general procedure. The artifice of playing against an actual opponent will slip away, and it'll be boring.