Dircadirca

Utterly bleak. It's Easter but it's also Christmas for the worst people you could ever have the misfortune of engaging with. Hugs and support to all my trans & non-binary acquaintances up north, including the ones I've never met.

14/04/2025 Singles 01 01 09 01 ORDINARY Alex Warren 02 02 25 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 03 04 32 04 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 04 03 25 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 05 10 08 05 NOKIA Drake 06 06 19 01 MESSY Lola Young 07 07 47 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 08 08 64 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 09 09 34 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 10 05 05 01 ANXIETY Doechii 11 11 11 08 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 12 12 20 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 13 13 17 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 14 15 52 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 15 14 73 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 16 17 34 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 17 20 48 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 18 22 52 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 19 23 06 19 MUTT Leon Thomas 20 19 52 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 21 16 02 16 TWILIGHT ZONE Ariana Grande 22 21 21 20 CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren 23 18 48 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 24 25 33 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 25 32 06 25 LOVE ME NOT Ravyn Lenae 26 35 02 26 UNDRESSED sombr 27 28 194 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 28 29 16 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 29 30 88 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 30 NE 01 30 AZIZAM Ed Sheeran 31 31 26 27 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 32 26 39 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 33 24 04 22 DARK THOUGHTS Lil Tecca 34 27 07 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 35 33 28 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 36 NE 01 36 CARAMEL Sleep Token 37 39 248 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 38 34 47 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 39 57 03 39 BACK TO FRIENDS Sombr 40 38 85 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 41 44 44 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 42 36 244 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 43 52 48 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 44 47 08 22 BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 45 41 57 10 AUSTIN Dasha 46 40 37 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 47 42 55 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 48 48 143 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 49 49 250 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 50 46 46 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan Bubbling Under 13 (12) ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 14 (9) THE GIVER Chappell Roan 15 (18) SORRY I'M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE Benson Boone 16 (17) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 17 (16) JUST IN CASE Morgan Wallen 18 (15) LIKE JENNIE Jennie 19 (RE) I KNOW LOVE Tate McRae feat. The Kid Laroi 20 (NE) SHOW ME LOVE WizTheMc, bees & honey Albums 01 NE 001 01 LIKE LOVE Ball Park Music 02 02 033 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 04 007 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 04 NE 001 04 BODIES Thornhill 05 NE 001 05 PREACHER'S DAUGHTER Ethel Cain 06 01 056 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 07 05 047 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 08 08 028 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 09 06 122 01 SOS SZA 10 09 218 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 11 11 042 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 12 12 047 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 13 18 203 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 14 10 005 01 MAYHEM Lady Gaga 15 19 315 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 16 16 369 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 17 15 044 01 BRAT Charli XCX 18 17 020 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 19 20 409 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 20 22 149 03 HOZIER Hozier 21 26 110 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 22 NE 001 22 FOREVER HOWLONG Black Country, New Road 23 25 096 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 24 24 103 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 25 13 003 05 I SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco 26 NE 001 26 WHO BELIEVES IN ANGELS? Elton John & Brandi Carlile 27 28 051 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 28 NE 001 28 TE WHARE TIWEKAWEK Marlon Williams 29 30 193 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 30 31 464 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 31 NE 001 31 THE CRUX Djo 32 27 017 15 YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT, KID (CHAPTER 1) Alex Warren 33 34 354 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 34 14 004 01 MUSIC Playboi Carti 35 23 005 02 RUBY Jennie 36 35 481 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 37 36 239 27 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 38 41 526 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 39 37 083 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 40 38 246 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 41 33 008 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 42 40 052 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 43 39 376 08 DUA LIPA Dua Lipa 44 42 126 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 45 44 213 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 46 43 009 29 ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL Doechii 47 52 035 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris 48 46 423 01 ÷ Ed Sheeran 49 21 263 01 FUTURE NOSTALGIA Dua Lipa 50 50 387 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift "Ordinary" secures a 3rd week at #1. It's really not being challenged by anything. I do have to note the bizarre persistence of "Pink Pony Club" which felt like it stalled out weeks ago, but is making small gains along the way. It's now Chappell Roan's highest charting single ever, and I can't even discount the possibility it gets a little bit higher. "APT." has been hanging around the top 2 for so long at this point (although not as long as "Dance Monkey", stay humble). Drake makes a considerable jump to #5 with "NOKIA", the last time he was this high was with 2023's "First Person Shooter", the last time he was this high outside of a debut week was 2022's "Rich Flex", and the last time this was all true with a solo track was 2020's "Toosie Slide". Ed Sheeran annihilates wannabes Sleep Token to have the highest debut of the week, although technically sombr was close too with the promised second debut week in a row. It's a historic week for Australian music this week as Ball Park Music score their first ever #1 album. They're up to their 8th album and previously have hit #2 3 times before, losing to an incumbent Harry Styles and debutant Bruce Springsteen. The roughest moment for them though was in 2014 when they first reached #2, missing the top spot by what I recall being less than 20 sales to the highly incumbent INXS "Greatest Hits" set, coasting off the TV mini-series for weeks and weeks (but that was the final week). Ball Park Music are from Brisbane and in a bizarre twist of fate, both Queensland AFL teams are the only 2 undefeated teams so far in 2025. To put this into context, Gold Coast have never finished at the top half of the ladder in 14 years of contending, and in 2017, the two teams finished at the very bottom. Maybe Ball Park Music were onto something when they released the song "Please Don't Move To Melbourne" earlier this year. Done with the football content for the week, but not Australian content, as Thornhill score a #4 debut, a few years after reaching #3 with their last album. It's meltdown week for all the people making fun of Ethel Cain and her politics after her extremely uncommercial release this year didn't sell particularly well. The vinyl release of her debut gives her a first time ever on the chart at #5. "American Teenager" is a classic but you probably didn't need to hear it from me. Speaking of artists causing meltdowns from people who are too online, it's a huge week for besties and people who have birthdays alike, as Black Country, New Road return with their newest album at #22. I do have to note that their last album got to #6 but I do think this one's way more enjoyable to listen to. For Elton John it's just another one, but for Brandi Carlile, she's scoring her first ever top 50 album this week. "The Story" only got to #44 in 2007 so this is her highest chart position ever in Australia. Marlon Williams is a star in Aotearoa and still goes pretty alright in Australia as he scores a 4th top 50 album, he's had two top 10s before. Possibly helped by his recent Australian tour, though Djo isn't looking like getting a second hit song at the moment, he does manage to chart his new album nonetheless.

Just btw, this version of the song has been out for a few weeks now, might be its first day in the top 200 but it probably wasn't far off last week.

Like, I don't use TikTok myself (not my kind of content, that's fine), but I always find the treatment of it as some sort of omniscient spectre of influence so weird, and strangely utilised at that. 'X can't get a hit anymore because TikTok, therefore Gen Z have short attention spans?' It used to be 'Y just keeps getting hits on past reputation because insert generation have no imagination or desire to discover new and better artists'. It's just this clumsy self-correcting attempt to both try and explain why certain music is popular but with this odd veneer of 'back in my day we had standards and control', like it's any different to a baby boomer insisting that music was objectively better when they were a teenager. All the while, using isolated examples that fit the narrative, and ignoring the cases that don't. C'mon, we're all better than this.

Or alternatively, they're big on TikTok because people care about them?

07/04/2025 Singles 01 01 08 01 ORDINARY Alex Warren 02 02 24 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 03 04 24 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 04 05 31 04 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 05 03 04 01 ANXIETY Doechii 06 06 18 01 MESSY Lola Young 07 10 46 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 08 09 63 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 09 07 33 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 10 11 07 10 NOKIA Drake 11 12 10 08 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 12 08 19 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 13 13 16 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 14 14 72 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 15 15 51 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 16 NE 01 16 TWILIGHT ZONE Ariana Grande 17 17 33 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 18 16 47 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 19 18 51 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 20 21 47 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 21 20 20 20 CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren 22 19 51 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 23 79 05 23 MUTT Leon Thomas 24 22 03 22 DARK THOUGHTS Lil Tecca 25 24 32 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 26 26 38 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 27 23 06 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 28 31 193 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 29 34 15 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 30 25 87 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 31 27 25 27 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 32 37 05 32 LOVE ME NOT Ravyn Lenae 33 29 27 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 34 32 46 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 35 NE 01 35 UNDRESSED sombr 36 44 243 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 37 30 12 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 38 35 84 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 39 40 247 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 40 38 36 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 41 45 56 10 AUSTIN Dasha 42 42 54 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 43 28 03 14 THE GIVER Chappell Roan 44 41 43 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 45 NE 01 45 DANDELION Ariana Grande 46 46 45 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 47 52 07 22 BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 48 48 142 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 49 51 249 19 MR. BRIGHTSIDE The Killers 50 43 18 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar Bubbling Under 12 (10) ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 13 (18) BACK TO FRIENDS Sombr 14 (NE) WARM Ariana Grande 15 (11) LIKE JENNIE Jennie 16 (NE) JUST IN CASE Morgan Wallen 17 (13) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 18 (16) SORRY I'M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE Benson Boone 19 (9) RATHER LIE Playboi Carti 20 (15) DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya Albums 01 79 055 01 ETERNAL SUNSHINE Ariana Grande 02 01 032 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 NE 001 03 BACKFLIPS IN A RESTAURANT grentperez 04 02 006 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 05 03 046 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 06 06 121 01 SOS SZA 07 NE 001 07 RUSHMERE Mumford & Sons 08 09 027 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 09 11 217 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 10 08 004 01 MAYHEM Lady Gaga 11 10 041 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 12 12 046 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 13 05 002 05 I SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco 14 07 003 01 MUSIC Playboi Carti 15 17 043 01 BRAT Charli XCX 16 15 368 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 17 14 019 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 18 26 202 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 19 21 314 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 20 19 408 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 21 23 262 01 FUTURE NOSTALGIA Dua Lipa 22 27 148 03 HOZIER Hozier 23 16 004 02 RUBY Jennie 24 20 102 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 25 22 095 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 26 24 109 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 27 25 016 15 YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT, KID (CHAPTER 1) Alex Warren 28 29 050 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 29 NE 001 29 THE BAND ALBUM Travis Collins 30 30 192 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 31 31 463 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 32 13 019 02 RADICAL OPTIMISM Dua Lipa 33 28 007 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 34 35 353 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 35 34 480 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 36 37 238 27 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 37 36 082 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 38 38 245 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 39 39 375 08 DUA LIPA Dua Lipa 40 40 051 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 41 41 525 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 42 42 125 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 43 33 008 29 ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL Doechii 44 43 212 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 45 NE 001 45 DREAMS ON TOAST The Darkness 46 44 422 01 ÷ Ed Sheeran 47 32 009 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 48 45 356 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 49 NE 001 49 FOREVER IS A FEELING Lucy Dacus 50 46 386 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift "Ordinary" secures a second week at #1. When "APT." is still the closest competition you shouldn't be too surprised. The top 8 is nearly entirely #1 hits, with the one exception being "Pink Pony Club" that now lays claim to being Chappell Roan's equal highest charting song. Really benefitting from sliding competition. Drake defies the curse and manages to slot into the top 10 with "NOKIA", and it looks like it'll keep climbing next week. Ariana Grande's new deluxe set gets her a couple of new entries, while there's also a big climb for Leon Thomas to score his first top 50 hit with "MUTT". The Chris Brown remix heavily aided this boost although it's interesting that over in Aotearoa, this boost happened a week earlier, typical Australian slowness. sombr is currently making big moves with two songs at once, but for now it's "undressed" that gets into the top 50 first. I just want to note "Mr. Brightside" re-entering because we've had a reversal of fortunes, where usually of the two, "Dreams" was the one that was more prone to falling out of the top 50. The script has been flipped and it means that "Dreams" has a cozy lead for weeks in the top 50 (155 vs. 146), and is two months away from matching the all-time record from Lewis Capaldi. Ariana Grande returns to #1 for a 4th week with "eternal sunshine". This will likely give it some extra time in the top 50 to prevent it from being her shortest charting album since "Yours Truly", which is interesting because it's now only 1 week away from being her longest reigning album ("thank u, next" managed 5 weeks at #1). Leading the debuts is the debut album from Australian singer-songwriter grentperez from Sydney. Something of a wunderkind, he's been putting out music since 2021 when he was 19 and slowly picking up accolades along the way. I gotta shout out the fact that while a lot of Like A Version covers of late are very restricted to safe and obvious choices, I respect the fact that he made his a cover of the Battle of the Bands song from "School of Rock", just a breath of fresh air. The album is called "Backflips In A Restaurant". For your consideration, I have attached a GIF below of Richmond footballer Seth Campbell doing a backflip in front of about 80,000 fans last month when he kicked the game-sealing goal that allowed his team to perform the upset victory of the year after not being expected to win a single game in 2025. It continues to be the funniest thing that's happened this year. Mumford & Sons return with their 5th album which is also their 5th top 10 (but first to miss the top 5). I'm shocked their last album lasted 11 weeks in the top 50, can this one make it to 2?? Local country singer Travis Collins had been improving his album peaks consistently up until his last which got to #3, he has to settle for #29 this time around. Meanwhile The Darkness have to be credited as one of the more consistently hanging around artists to never reach the top 10, they admittedly missed the top 50 with their last album but they've come roaring back to #45 now. Lucy Dacus may have gone triple stumper on Jeopardy! a couple years ago but she has a solo top 50 album now. Taylor Swift fervour quietens down for the first time in a while as she loses two from the top 50 this week, including "Lover" which has been charting every single week since September 2022. Keep an eye out for "folklore" at #38, which has never left the top 50 once since debut.

Can't remember if it was with this group, but I was trying to find an old tweet of mine just now and unearthed this one from 2021

Just want to put this forward as a point of interest (and because it took way too long for me to collect and present the data to discard it), the distribution of #1 debuts as a concept varies quite a bit on different charts, so it's as much about the era in general as it is the way the chart is calculated. You'd imagine there'd be a lot more #1s in the US if not for airplay! Adding the UK would be too much work but I imagine a VERY drastic progression.

July last year, Ed Sheeran had 66 million listeners on Spotify (19th), according to a tweet from then I saw. Prior to the release of this single, he was up to 76 million (14th). These things ebb and flow. Could easily go past his highest non-"Merry Christmas" boosted peak with this one. The reality doesn't always follow the vibes or the narrative, but that's why we have the charts.

If you put those former #1 debuts in the landscape of today, it's not quite as drastic a change it seems. Streaming just re-calibrates the way we look at it all. After all, those #1 debuts typically didn't just appear in an instant like the chart tells. They come from weeks (months?) of advance promotion & airplay using an industry certified formula specifically for maximising those first week sales. If we convert them to modern times, they're either not debuting at the top, or they're not truly the most listened-to record on that given week. Ariana Grande debuted at #14 on the streaming chart this week with "twilight zone". Out of all songs this week, it very likely had the biggest increase in new listeners (given that it had 0 the week before). With the charts the way they were back then, that'd make it a cozy #1 debut, one of many that instantly pop up there to be replaced by next week's sensation, very few of which actually go to #1 instantly on the official chart. It might still be possible to some degree. TikTok promotion can work in a similar way for a song that's not officially 'out', might just take a vagrant Addison Rae-type celebrity with a big following to do it.

Just wanna say that while the urge to be a prophet of doom is at an all time high, often times things aren't as good or bad as they seem. Just go to the end of the June 2021 streaming thread and see all the forecasts of pessimism on day 1 for what turned out to be the biggest hit of the year. The idea that everything is dependent on early figures doesn't really apply with infinite shelf life, and performance 6, 12, 60 months down the track affects the bottom line more. Maybe not as fun but it's true. Or if you will, an example. Dua Lipa releases "Don't Start Now", huge smash, no one's denying this. 33 weeks in the global Spotify top 10, keeps bobbing up there and has appeared on the chart as recently as late 2024, 5 years after release. 4 years later she releases "Houdini". Sceptics come out in full force. It only manages 1 week in the global Spotify top 10, after 36 weeks it's out of the top 200, never to return, sounds like an absolute failure. And yet you compare the two over the first 18 months. "Don't Start Now" managed about 1.5 billion streams, "Houdini" 0.8 billion. No doubt it's a decline, but way too fine a gap to measure between a smash and an underperformance, and also I think a far smaller gap than most would have thought. In any case those regular sized hits can be the exception that proves the rule. Expecting every new lead single to hit in the same way is to take credit away from those past hits and how much they resonated.

31/03/2025 Singles 01 04 07 01 ORDINARY Alex Warren 02 02 23 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 03 01 03 01 ANXIETY Doechii 04 03 23 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 05 05 30 05 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 06 06 17 01 MESSY Lola Young 07 09 32 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 08 08 18 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 09 11 62 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 10 10 45 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 11 12 06 11 NOKIA Drake 12 13 09 08 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 13 15 15 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 14 22 71 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 15 18 50 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 16 17 46 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 17 21 32 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 18 19 50 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 19 24 50 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 20 28 19 20 CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren 21 25 46 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 22 75 02 22 DARK THOUGHTS Lil Tecca 23 20 05 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 24 27 31 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 25 26 86 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 26 36 37 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 27 45 24 27 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 28 14 02 14 THE GIVER Chappell Roan 29 32 26 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 30 23 11 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 31 33 192 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 32 30 45 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 33 07 02 07 EVIL J0RDAN Playboi Carti 34 35 14 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 35 37 83 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 36 16 02 16 RATHER LIE Playboi Carti 37 57 04 37 LOVE ME NOT Ravyn Lenae 38 39 35 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 39 31 08 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 40 42 246 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 41 44 42 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 42 43 53 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 43 34 17 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 44 48 242 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 45 47 55 10 AUSTIN Dasha 46 57 44 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 47 52 10 47 BURNING DOWN Alex Warren 48 53 141 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 49 40 03 35 LIKE JENNIE Jennie 50 56 46 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith Bubbling Under 12 (15) BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 13 (19) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 14 (16) I KNOW LOVE Tate McRae feat. The Kid Laroi 15 (RE) DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya 16 (20) SORRY I'M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE Benson Boone 17 (17) DIE TRYING PartyNextDoor, Drake & Yebba 18 (NE) BACK TO FRIENDS Sombr 19 (RE) CALL ME WHEN YOU BREAK UP Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, Gracie Abrams 20 (NE) I'M A LITTLE CRAZY Morgan Wallen Albums 01 02 031 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 02 03 005 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 03 05 045 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 04 NE 001 04 OLD MERVS Old Mervs 05 NE 001 05 I SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco 06 06 120 01 SOS SZA 07 01 002 01 MUSIC Playboi Carti 08 04 003 01 MAYHEM Lady Gaga 09 07 026 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 10 10 040 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 11 11 216 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 12 09 045 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 13 25 018 02 RADICAL OPTIMISM Dua Lipa 14 12 018 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 15 14 367 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 16 08 003 02 RUBY Jennie 17 13 042 01 BRAT Charli XCX 18 NE 001 18 BIRD IN PARADISE The Cat Empire 19 22 407 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 20 18 101 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 21 17 313 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 22 20 094 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 23 36 261 01 FUTURE NOSTALGIA Dua Lipa 24 24 108 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 25 15 015 15 YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT, KID (CHAPTER 1) Alex Warren 26 28 201 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 27 23 147 03 HOZIER Hozier 28 16 006 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 29 19 049 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 30 27 191 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 31 31 462 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 32 21 008 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 33 29 007 29 ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL Doechii 34 30 479 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 35 32 352 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 36 35 081 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 37 37 237 27 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 38 33 244 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 39 49 374 08 DUA LIPA Dua Lipa 40 38 050 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 41 34 524 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 42 40 124 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 43 41 211 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 44 43 421 01 ÷ Ed Sheeran 45 46 355 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 46 45 385 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 47 44 292 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 48 42 281 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 49 48 050 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 50 47 074 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift Alex Warren scores his first ever #1 hit with "Ordinary". With the vaulting of this and much of his back catalogue, it is clear that he's having a Chappell Roan moment at present, except oddly enough his album dropped quite a bit this week, so maybe this week was just an individualised boost for "Ordinary". In any case, he's got a huge lead now on Spotify, whether or not he's got room to grow elsewhere or he's peaked early remains to be seen. His lack of airplay does make me think he's gonna keep climbing on iTunes though. Alex Warren also gets a new entry with "Burning Down", the second time he's done so with a song that charted below the top 50 last year, I think he's out of those. Lil Tecca scores his second ever top 50 hit with "Dark Thoughts", while Ravyn Lenae is charting for the first time with "Love Me Not". A long time coming for a song I first heard back in June last year. When in doubt, just put Sabrina Carpenter back at #1. This is her 12th week there. Her 6 concurrent songs in the Spotify top 200 are doing a lot of legwork, but it's probably very beatable if a major release comes along. I am gesturing in the direction of Ariana Grande. In new entry lack, leading the pack we have some prime WESTERN AUSTRALIAN content. Up and comers Old Mervs get their first ever entry with their self-titled set in at an impressive #4. So far this year, the only win that either of the two Western Australian football teams have gotten is when the two of them played each other and thus one of them had to (probably) win, so a rare W for my state of late. Selena Gomez also scores her 4th top 10 album, and helps benny blanco to heights he'd never seen on his own, as he barely cracked the top 40 with his own album a few years back. The Australian content continues as famed terrorisers of my blog The Cat Empire, are still going at it. They're back with their first new album in 6 years, although it's also their first album to miss the top 10 other than their long charting debut. They previously had two #1 albums, and are currently living off the royalties of "Hello" being on TV commercials again. Maybe I'll have to use that one for next year's thread intro.

(Oh hey 'quote section', what a neat feature) I know the answer is radio, but the extent to which it's possible to skirt the recurrency rules by way of a glacial uptick in audience is getting really out of hand. And Billboard bases their End Of Year charts solely around these accumulated weeks, where a few extra weeks can jump you up dozens of spots! Funny to think also that Billboard enacted the change to the rules re: 52 weeks when there were just 3 songs mildly flaunting it ("Uptown Funk", "Shut Up and Dance", "Thinking Out Loud" all between #36-#45 with 50something weeks), they're on the cusp of having about 8-9 songs on 52+ weeks while within the top 25, wonder what it'd take for them to change the rules again. Ironically, tightening it up just creates less competition and thus more songs able to go on such runs.

Funnily enough, in the past few weeks, "Shape Of You" has been outstreaming "Blinding Lights", the song that unseated it as the most streamed song of all time on Spotify, for the first time ever.

24/03/2025 Singles 01 09 02 01 ANXIETY Doechii 02 01 22 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 03 03 22 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 04 14 06 04 ORDINARY Alex Warren 05 06 29 05 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 06 04 16 01 MESSY Lola Young 07 NE 01 07 EVIL J0RDAN Playboi Carti 08 05 17 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 09 02 31 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 10 07 44 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 11 10 61 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 12 11 05 11 NOKIA Drake 13 08 08 08 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 14 NE 01 14 THE GIVER Chappell Roan 15 13 14 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 16 NE 01 16 RATHER LIE Playboi Carti 17 12 45 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 18 16 49 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 19 17 49 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 20 15 04 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 21 22 31 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 22 27 70 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 23 18 10 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 24 23 49 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 25 25 45 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 26 20 85 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 27 26 30 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 28 30 18 30 CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren 29 NE 01 29 CRUSH Playboi Carti 30 24 44 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 31 21 07 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 32 31 25 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 33 29 191 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 34 28 16 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 35 36 13 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 36 41 36 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 37 37 82 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 38 NE 01 38 EMERGENCE Sleep Token 39 33 34 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 40 35 02 35 LIKE JENNIE Jennie 41 19 04 14 A N X I E T Y Sleepy Hallow feat. Doechii 42 39 245 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 43 43 52 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 44 40 41 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 45 45 23 30 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 46 NE 01 46 TOXIC Playboi Carti 47 47 54 10 AUSTIN Dasha 48 50 241 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 49 NE 01 49 PHILLY Playboi Carti 50 NE 01 50 GOOD CREDIT Playboi Carti Bubbling Under 15 (11) BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 16 (09) I KNOW LOVE Tate McRae feat. The Kid Laroi 17 (12) DIE TRYING PartyNextDoor, Drake & Yebba 18 (NE) DARK THOUGHTS Lil Tecca 19 (17) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 20 (13) SORRY I'M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE Benson Boone Albums 01 NE 001 01 MUSIC Playboi Carti 02 04 030 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 03 004 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 04 01 002 01 MAYHEM Lady Gaga 05 05 044 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 06 06 119 01 SOS SZA 07 09 025 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 08 02 002 02 RUBY Jennie 09 11 044 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 10 10 039 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 11 12 215 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 12 08 017 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 13 13 041 01 BRAT Charli XCX 14 15 366 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 15 27 014 15 YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT, KID (CHAPTER 1) Alex Warren 16 14 005 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 17 16 312 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 18 20 100 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 19 24 048 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 20 25 093 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 21 21 007 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 22 23 406 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 23 19 146 03 HOZIER Hozier 24 22 107 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 25 RE 017 02 RADICAL OPTIMISM Dua Lipa 26 NE 001 26 HI, IT'S NICE TO MEET ME Mia Wray 27 17 190 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 28 28 200 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 29 RE 006 29 ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL Doechii 30 31 478 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 31 29 461 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 32 30 351 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 33 36 243 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 34 35 523 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 35 33 080 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 36 62 260 01 FUTURE NOSTALGIA Dua Lipa 37 32 236 27 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 38 39 049 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 39 90 006 07 POPULAR MONSTER Falling In Reverse 40 37 123 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 41 42 210 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 42 41 280 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 43 55 420 01 ÷ Ed Sheeran 44 43 291 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 45 46 384 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 46 45 354 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 47 52 073 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 48 49 049 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 49 72 373 08 DUA LIPA Dua Lipa 50 51 294 01 STARBOY The Weeknd "Anxiety" climbs to #1. Last week I pondered the last time a #1 hit samples another #1 hit in anticipation for this. Evidently the lesson is that it only hits particularly strongly this time when I'm old enough to remember seeing both songs climb to the top, because it's actually not that uncommon. Just last year Eminem did it with "Houdini", and we also had David Guetta & Bebe Rexha's "I'm Good (Blue)". Technically speaking Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" counts, and then you can go back to The Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" before that. But yes, the important thing is that now Gotye has written two #1 hits, so get that one hit wonder tag outta here. As much as I'd like to revel in weekly updates on the Australian perspective, this looks to be short-lived, as the song is dropping about as fast as the Sleepy Hallow version but even if it wasn't, Alex Warren is here to pick up the slack. His large lead on UK Spotify promised to follow through on the Australian chart and with his huge 5 digit gains on Spotify last night, that look to set him atop the throne for weeks to come. Amidst everything else, Chappell Roan sneaks a second top 5 hit and it's weird to think that "Pink Pony Club" is only 1 spot away from being her highest charter, although I do realise I'm typing this on a UK forum. She does this by staying just ahead of the avalanche of Playboi Carti entries. Prior to this week, Carti has operated solely as a featured artist on the chart, but he's forged his own identity now with 6 new entries in the top 50. "EVIL J0RDAN" lands the highest and gives him a 3rd top 10 hit. Alongside all those debuts, Chappell Roan enters at #14 but looks like having a heavy decline next week. It looks to be a sketchy title defence for the reigning Hottest 100 champion. By the way, my blog hits the 20% complete mark at the end of the week. Sleep Token have been accumulating many weeks around the #100 mark for their most recent album and now they translate that to some singles chart success as they enter for the first time ever. Playboi Carti also scores his first ever #1 album this week. I'm reminded of how J. Cole used to release his albums in December and really squander his chart positions in Australia until he finally opted for a regular week and instantly went to #1. I'm not saying that "Whole Lotta Red" would've debuted at #1, but you have to wonder when it still managed to reach #15 here what it could've accomplished. I once again have to check and make sure Alex Warren hasn't snuck "Ordinary" onto his album as it continues to have strong gains but it really probably is just his whole catalogue moving up. I can't say the same for Doechii who I have to call out for this exact tactic, as she re-enters with a new peak thanks to a 'Deluxe' version of her mixtape that just has "Anxiety" tacked on the end. I can't allow this shamelessness to go unreported. Our one other new entry this week is also the only Australian entry this week, as it's the debut album for Mia Wray. She's dabbled in the worlds of pop, rock, dance & country music over the years and never truly broken through although her song "Never Gonna Be The Same" was something of a digital sales hit, and "Where I Stand" has over 20 million streams. I think she's been on a pretty solid run of singles lately, but in any case, this is her first ever chart appearance. Dua Lipa's recent Australian tour brings her entire catalogue back into the top 50, which includes having her newest album ahead of the other two for the first time in quite a while. I guess I should also say that Falling In Reverse were in Australia too. The album is certified gold and I have a hard time believing it's managed to accumulate that. Amusingly, Dua Lipa's self-titled album is also certified gold, I suspect that one's just a little outdated.

I think if you can divorce vinyl from the context of 'This exists solely to artificially induce #1 hits that otherwise wouldn't be', then I think it's probably advisable to stagger the release a bit? Can give the song a jolt back to its momentum and probably has more potential buyers once people are familiar with the song in question. But then unless I'm misremembering, I thought I was seeing discussion a couple weeks ago about the Fontaines single release being idiotic because the lack of a physical was gonna cost them their first top 40 hit. Except they ended up making the top 40 in the end anyway, so who cares?

You may be right but I'm always a bit sceptical of the hindsight perspective. It's very easy to say 'of course this was/wasn't a hit' after it happens, but it's all just saving face in perpetuity. Every day in the streaming thread, someone's declared the new Chappell Roan song as a definitive success or a failure in reaction to whether it's been higher or lower than expected on the daily Spotify chart, a song that's been out for 5 days. A lot of folks would've scoffed at the notion of Charli XCX's last album being as popular as it was if you'd told them in advance because she spent so long in the wilderness beneath the A-list that it seemed fair to think she'd stay like that no matter what. Heck, listen to this song and tell me if the international markets missed out on an obvious smash or not. Our 'We have JLS at home' spent 9 consecutive weeks at #1 here with it, but I can't divorce myself from local perspective, so I don't really know if it sounds like it'd ever make it on its own merits in a bigger market. These sorts of pocketed hits don't happen as much anymore but it's not because the music isn't as good, people just aren't hearing them as much over the global/American counterparts. It's all just a promotional game, but I think anything with a glint of hit potential in it would be able to go major if it had the right marketing. No doubt it won't be long until the next once-perceived flop actually turns into a huge hit years down the track.

Don't think they're the best examples there. Yes, the success wasn't instant, but both of their albums were major label releases (granted, the first one didn't go so well with Chappell) with a lot of money behind them before and after the bolts from the blue. In Noah's case, I watched 7 years ago as one of his songs spent a very generous 6 months in the ARIA top 50 because his label (same one he's with now) very intently gave it a big Hot Hits push, and then the song evaporated the moment it was done. There's a fairly reliable pattern in general where unsigned artists blow up. Either they don't get signed and quickly sputter out, or they do get signed, and the label milks the one hit for what it's worth before quietly dropping them (you can find a lot of articles about Arizona Zervas getting signed to Columbia after the success of "ROXANNE" in Nov 2019, and even his Wikipedia article still has them listed, but they actually dropped him some time between Dec 2022 and Feb 2023. His album came out independently in 2023 so you can probably connect the behind-the-scenes dots). The major labels always have the money, and the major labels always win. Macklemore is just about the only notable exception I can think of, but he still had Warner promoting and distributing his album. Do agree above though that Hot Hits shouldn't be exclusively UK artists (a quota would be nice if there isn't already one). It's actually to their benefit that way. Nestling in local and/or unproven hits amongst the established crowd pleasers is how new hits ferment. People don't generally like hearing successive unfamiliar songs/artists, but strategically sandwiching them helps bridge that issue, as well as giving them credibility by association. Radio stations have been doing it for decades.

17/03/2025 Singles 01 01 21 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 07 30 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 03 04 21 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 04 03 15 01 MESSY Lola Young 05 02 16 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 06 06 28 06 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 07 05 43 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 08 09 07 08 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 09 NE 01 09 ANXIETY Doechii 10 10 60 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 11 12 04 11 NOKIA Drake 12 08 44 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 13 11 13 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 14 27 05 14 ORDINARY Alex Warren 15 13 03 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 16 16 48 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 17 15 48 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 18 18 09 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 19 14 03 14 A N X I E T Y Sleepy Hallow feat. Doechii 20 17 84 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 21 31 06 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 22 22 30 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 23 20 48 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 24 19 43 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 25 21 44 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 26 25 29 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 27 24 69 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 28 23 15 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 29 29 190 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 30 56 17 30 CARRY YOU HOME Alex Warren 31 30 24 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 32 26 03 17 I KNOW LOVE Tate McRae feat. The Kid Laroi 33 38 33 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 34 28 31 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 35 NE 01 35 LIKE JENNIE Jennie 36 36 12 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 37 34 81 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 38 33 04 22 BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 39 42 244 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 40 32 40 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 41 39 35 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 42 37 40 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 43 35 51 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 44 44 42 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 45 45 22 30 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 46 48 139 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 47 51 53 10 AUSTIN Dasha 48 50 44 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 49 40 04 40 DIE TRYING PartyNextDoor, Drake & Yebba 50 43 240 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy Bubbling Under 13 (NE) SORRY I'M HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE Benson Boone 14 (NE) HANDLEBARS Jennie, Dua Lipa 15 (16) EXTRAL Jennie, Doechii 16 (11) DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya 17 (12) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 18 (13) BMF SZA 19 (NE) GARDEN OF EDEN Lady Gaga 20 (15) 30 FOR 30 SZA, Kendrick Lamar Albums 01 NE 001 01 MAYHEM Lady Gaga 02 NE 001 02 RUBY Jennie 03 02 003 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 04 03 029 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 05 01 043 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 06 04 118 01 SOS SZA 07 NE 001 07 SECOND WIND Daniel Seavey 08 07 016 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 09 09 024 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 10 11 038 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 11 10 048 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 12 13 214 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 13 06 040 01 BRAT Charli XCX 14 12 004 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 15 15 365 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 16 14 311 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 17 16 189 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 18 NE 001 18 STRAIGHT INTO THE SUN The Cruel Sea 19 22 145 03 HOZIER Hozier 20 18 099 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 21 17 006 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 22 19 106 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 23 20 405 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 24 21 047 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 25 25 092 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 26 NE 001 26 ÜBERMENSCH G-Dragon 27 64 013 27 YOU'LL BE ALRIGHT, KID (CHAPTER 1) Alex Warren 28 24 199 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 29 28 460 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 30 26 350 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 31 29 477 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 32 27 235 27 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 33 35 079 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 34 NE 001 34 TSUNAMI SEA Spiritbox 35 33 522 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 36 32 242 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 37 30 122 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 38 NE 001 38 IMAGINAL DISK Magdalena Bay 39 34 048 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 40 NE 001 40 WIGGLE UP, GIDDY UP! The Wiggles 41 31 279 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 42 40 209 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 43 36 290 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 44 05 002 05 ALTER EGO Lisa 45 41 353 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 46 39 383 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 47 44 085 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 48 38 020 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 49 37 048 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 50 23 345 16 GREATEST HITS: GOD'S FAVORITE BAND Green Day "APT." is #1 for a 14th week. The numbers have just been getting lower and lower, approaching the previous standards of years past (my main benchmark is "Last Night" holding #1 on barely 200K streams a day, whereas less than a year ago, many were doing 400K a day). This probably won't be a concern for much longer though as the levee looks ready to burst. The lead is not strong enough to call it a certainty, but a well timed shot to the top for Doechii might take "Anxiety" to #1 next week. I'll try to look into what the last #1 hit to sample another #1 hit was if that's the case, for now I'll do the 'back in my day, remakes of Gotye songs were seamlessly genre-hopping acts of brilliance'. For the time being, after two near-misses, Doechii has a first top 10 hit this week, and the Sleepy Hallow version has thusly been demoted to the role of 'look it's all we had a week ago' and is quickly sliding back out. Despite being only his second song to ever top the iTunes chart, Drake's "NOKIA" is presently suffering from the same #11 peak that befell "Rich Baby Daddy", his last song that had some legs outside of its initial debut. He'll have some more trouble next week as Alex Warren is vaulting fast towards the top 10. The climb of "Ordinary" this week is accompanied by a new peak for "Carry You Home" (and his album for that matter). BLACKPINK are currently synergy maxing with simultaneous or thereabouts releasing, and now Jennie has a solo top 50 hit. I don't know what Jisoo is up to but it's okay because she already had one two years ago. Lady Gaga scores her 5th #1 album. Just for clarity I am counting the soundtrack to "A Star Is Born". Though her single hitmaking has been inconsistent over the last 10 years, she's never mucked up an album campaign as all of her proper studio albums have gotten into the top 3. I will bring up the BLACKPINK thing again because Jennie debuts at #2. Rosé also debuted at #2, and collectively the group had two #2 albums as well. Lisa lasts a second week with her relatively modest #5 album, but once again I am not sure what Jisoo is up to. This week's great peculiarity is the top 10 arrival of Daniel Seavey. You're learning with me that he was an American Idol finalist and he has nearly a million followers on Twitter. From what I can see though, he hasn't managed to chart anywhere else with his debut album, finally, Australia has forged a unique identity. Speaking of which, this week's highest Australian album comes from '90s stalwarts The Cruel Sea. They were most famous in the mid '90s for their swampy blues rock sound, and frontman Tex Perkins' commanding presence. If you know any of their songs, it's probably "The Honeymoon Is Over" or "Better Get A Lawyer". The latter comes from their album "Three Legged Dog", which debuted at #1 and even spent a second week at the top. This week they return with their first album since 2001. I don't know if anyone falls into the Venn diagram of being interested in this fact while not knowing it already for themselves, but I shall proceed anyway. One of the more memorable characters from Season 2 of "Squid Game" is Thanos, the scene-stealing antagonist. He's played by an actual rapper, T.O.P., formerly from K-Pop group BIGBANG. This week, another member of BIGBANG, G-Dragon gets his first ever chart appearance here. We continue the one-way cultural exchange as Canadian band Spiritbox get their second top 50 entry. The Wiggles' latest venture is jumping in on country music, the artwork is pretty great. Also in peak indulgence for me, our last entry to note is the not-actually-new album from Magdalena Bay that never quite cracked the top 100 on release. The duo were touring Australia last week, and unlike other American artists sitting at #5, #16 & #17 this week, actually visited the west side. Thus, I was actually at one of those shows and let me tell you, it was pretty glorious. This promo gets enough vinyl copies out the door to give them their first ever Australian chart entry. Now the place is on fire.

It's possible to not like a song while not going out of your way to position yourself as a superior music listener. wtf does 'Karen' even mean anymore aside from misogyny with a paper thin mask on?

Am I correct in understanding that there's not been a song that would be #1, but misses out due to being on ACR and never actually gets there officially? I've felt for a while that the nature of chart runs nowadays runs a bit afoul of ACR's rigid system and it's totally possible, so I'm surprised if it still hasn't.

10/03/2025 Singles 01 01 20 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 02 15 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 03 03 14 01 MESSY Lola Young 04 05 20 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 05 06 42 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 06 08 27 06 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 07 07 29 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 08 04 43 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 09 09 06 09 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 10 10 59 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 11 11 12 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 12 20 03 12 NOKIA Drake 13 13 02 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 14 RE 02 14 A N X I E T Y Sleepy Hallow feat. Doechii 15 14 47 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 16 15 47 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 17 12 83 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 18 18 08 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 19 16 42 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 20 21 47 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 21 22 43 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 22 24 29 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 23 19 14 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 24 25 68 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 25 23 28 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 26 17 02 17 I KNOW LOVE Tate McRae feat. The Kid Laroi 27 27 04 27 ORDINARY Alex Warren 28 30 30 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 29 35 189 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 30 29 23 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 31 28 05 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 32 36 39 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 33 31 03 22 BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 34 39 80 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 35 38 50 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 36 42 11 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 37 32 39 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 38 41 32 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 39 43 34 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 40 44 03 40 DIE TRYING PartyNextDoor, Drake & Yebba 41 45 20 07 CHIHIRO Billie Eilish 42 48 243 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 43 51 239 06 RIPTIDE Vance Joy 44 50 41 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 45 46 21 30 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 46 52 40 24 WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Luke Combs 47 61 16 26 SOMEDAYS Sonny Fodera, D.O.D & Jazzy 48 58 138 06 SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE Zach Bryan 49 49 114 22 WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS Luke Combs 50 57 43 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith Bubbling Under 11 (13) DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya 12 (12) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 13 (14) BMF SZA 14 (15) SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 15 (16) 30 FOR 30 SZA, Kendrick Lamar 16 (17) EXTRAL Jennie, Doechii 17 (RE) BORN AGAIN Lisa feat. Doja Cat & Raye 18 (RE) GOOD NEWS Shaboozey 19 (19) CALL ME WHEN YOU BREAK UP Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, Gracie Abrams 20 (18) 15 MINUTES Sabrina Carpenter Albums 01 03 042 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 02 01 002 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 03 02 028 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 04 04 117 01 SOS SZA 05 NE 001 05 ALTER EGO Lisa 06 13 039 01 BRAT Charli XCX 07 05 015 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 08 NE 001 08 THE SKY, THE EARTH & ALL BETWEEN Architects 09 10 023 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 10 07 047 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 11 08 037 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 12 06 003 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 13 12 213 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 14 14 310 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 15 16 364 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 16 15 188 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 17 11 005 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 18 19 098 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 19 20 105 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 20 23 404 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 21 22 046 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 22 21 144 03 HOZIER Hozier 23 50 344 16 GREATEST HITS: GOD'S FAVORITE BAND Green Day 24 24 198 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 25 25 091 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 26 29 349 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 27 40 234 27 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 28 26 459 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 29 28 476 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 30 34 121 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 31 27 278 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 32 30 241 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 33 33 521 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 34 35 047 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 35 31 078 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 36 36 289 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 37 48 047 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 38 37 019 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 39 42 382 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 40 41 208 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 41 45 352 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 42 38 281 02 DAMN. Kendrick Lamar 43 47 435 02 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS Bruno Mars 44 46 084 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 45 58 013 02 ROSIE Rosé 46 49 292 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 47 RE 025 01 HI FI WAY (30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) You Am I 48 43 071 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 49 32 006 02 CAN'T RUSH GREATNESS Central Cee 50 51 030 30 96 MONTHS Calvin Harris "APT." is #1 for a 13th week. This is the second longest reign of the decade behind "STAY". There's a big logjam tie on that unlucky tally, but a likely 14th week would tie ABBA's "Fernando" as the 4th longest runner ever. Amusingly despite all the chaos of the last 3 and a half months, last night we reverted back to the same Spotify top 3 that we had in late November ("That's So True" at #1, "APT." at #2, "luther" at #3). "Pink Pony Club" scores a slight new peak at #6, and just for comparison's sakes, if we had ACR, it'd be #2 behind "luther" probably. We're not so different, you and I. For the 3rd year in a row, the legacy of Gotye's 4th (or 5th) hit song is being retrieved. Australia was one of the few places that Sleepy Hallow's "A N X I E T Y" charted back in 2023, and while it didn't actually make the main chart, the remade "Somebody (2024)" by Chris Lake & co. had an extensive shelf life all things considered. We're now back for round 3, as Sleepy Hallow's version vaults into the top 20...seemingly just as a stop gap while Doechii's version hadn't been properly released. It's now ahead of Sleepy Hallow on Spotify so it could be a short-lived affair once again for this. I am once again desperate to say that back in 2007, this Gotye song had a profound effect on me. It's one of my favourite songs ever. I hate seeing him called a one hit wonder as he's made so many wonderful songs of varying notoriety and you're missing out if you just listen to the one. Billie Eilish returns to #1 for a 6th week. Her debut album also returned to #1 about 10 months after release so this is business as usual for her. Lisa takes her debut album to #5, while Architects score their 5th top 10 album, having hit #1 back in 2021. Green Day have been touring Australia recently and though they had to cancel one of the shows due to the cyclone business in Queensland, they see a healthy vault up the chart this week. They're not charting but I also want to note that it coincides roughly with the Magdalena Bay Australia tour and I'm going to that tonight ^.^ To my knowledge, Pitbull is not coming to Australia. Infamously, back in 2013, just weeks before "Timber" was released, Pitbull & Kesha cancelled an Australian tour due to low sales. Nonetheless, he's seeing a particularly strong showing on streaming lately and vaults up to a new peak like it's nobody's business. I also feel obligated to point out that Drake cited scheduling issues for cancelling the last dates of his Australian tour, and it turned out that he just wanted to watch the Elimination Chamber in Toronto. I've got no beef with pro wrestling but I think it's really funny. Lastly we've got the re-emergence of the greatest war for Australians in their early 50s. I'm of course stoking the flames of what the best You Am I album is and whether it's "Hourly, Daily" or "Hi Fi Way". You Am I are a popular Australian alternative rock band who were remarkably popular given how they operated within that genre (very cerebral & pleasant, not so much on the big dumb riffs & chants). They were the first Australian band to have 3 consecutive #1 debut albums, and those first two from 1995 & 1996 are just about equally beloved. I personally give the edge to "Hourly Daily" as it's stacked at the front with the first 5 tracks just like "Hot Fuss", but "Hi Fi Way" does boast the 1-2 punch of "Cathy's Clown" (not a cover) and "Purple Sneakers". Just a stupendously good band that don't really get the same credit as their contemporaries.

Feel like there's an inconsistency in this. Why is it valid that an album can sell hundreds of thousands of copies to people that don't actually like it, but suddenly this happens via streaming and it's a massive problem? To what extent are we talking 'don't really like' though? Is there a threshold for how invested someone should be that's been grossly reshaped given the extent of music consumption nowadays? Are there any artists in particular who we know are generating loads of streams from people who don't like them? I know everyone thinks it's ~insert artist I don't like~ but that just feels like living in denial that people like different music. As for streams double-counting as album points as well, I feel like this is greatly exaggerated in terms of the UK Chart at least (mostly because all the chart rules are very confusing). Given that the top two tracks on an album literally don't affect the album chart, and anything lower than the 3rd most popular track on an album can't touch the singles chart (well I guess ACR can put a spanner in that..), it's such a small issue in the greater scheme. There are only ever a small handful of albums that ever get to do this, and only briefly usually. I think it's a more pressing issue when the chart's rules have arbitrary limitations that stop songs from charting for no good reason. Like how the UK Charts seemingly won't reset ACR for songs below the top 50 or so, or how the ARIA Charts constantly miss out on chart debuts altogether because every singles chart entry has to be individually nominated (and re-nominated) by a label to get the tick of approval. The argument always feels like emotions get in the way and it's way more of an issue to a lot of people if Taylor Swift has album tracks on the chart, than if say, Drake's "Hotline Bling" totally underperformed in Aotearoa/NZ because it never had streams counting for some reason (one could even argue that it missing #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 because of limited data reporting is a [hard to fix] problem in its own right). Most of the folk (I hate to generalise like this but I swear it's always the same) that make the 'charts are broken' arguments would probably see that statement and think 'good riddance', and that to me reveals that the sanctity of the chart for its implicit purpose of tracking popular music is never the priority in this debate.

Does it? Look how quickly I can individually download 25 tracks I'm not particularly wealthy (disability allowance in Australia, ahaha) and this is more of a once a year splurge, but I digress. It would take an entire month of 24/7 listening (if the 600:1 ratio is still correct, that's 15,000 streams) to match the chart impact of what I did in 6 minutes, without paying for it (if that's even possible really, pretty sure phone/power/internet bills exist). As far as the charts are concerned, sales and paid downloads already are excessively weighted. Their impact is just muted because it reflects a reality of a vast minority partaking in it. And yet, in Australia it still frequently has the final say on what goes to #1 (at least 3 instances in the past year, maybe more). Crazy influence for something that's being outnumbered by a factor of thousands.

There's a lot of scrutiny you can put on the phrase 'an album or a song that you didn't want'. How many albums purchased were largely unwanted birthday presents? How many of them were begrudging purchases because there was no way to listen to the song you wanted otherwise? Then there's just buyer's remorse*. R.E.M.'s "Monster" is infamous for filling up used CD racks, but there's no subtracting sales and it still gets to boast being a #1 on both sides of the pond, and the 6th best selling album of the year in the UK. We can umm and uhh on the merits of individual streams but I think on the whole, the fact that people can choose to stream songs they like more, means that the charts have never been more accurate. It's like preferential voting vs. first past the post, adding nuance to consumption rather than a binary makes the individual much more personalised. *We all love to celebrate big debut weeks for albums when they happen, but there's also the undeniable fact that a lot of them are done through months of built up pre-orders, sales from people who assume, but don't know they'll like it. Or sales from people who have no intention of ever spinning the record but want it as an investment property. No one wants to dispute it because it's not in anyone's interest to do so, but when it comes to streaming, everyone wants to push the narrative that it's always the songs they don't like that are rigging the chart because surely no one's intentionally listening to them. On the whole it's probably just a lot of statistical noise that mostly cancels itself out.