Dircadirca

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.

03/03/2025 Singles 01 03 19 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 02 02 14 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 03 04 13 01 MESSY Lola Young 04 01 42 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 05 05 19 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 06 07 41 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 07 06 28 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 08 09 26 07 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 09 25 05 09 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 10 10 58 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 11 11 11 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 12 08 82 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 13 NE 01 13 REVOLVING DOOR Tate McRae 14 13 46 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 15 14 46 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 16 20 41 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 17 NE 01 17 I KNOW LOVE Tate McRae feat. The Kid Laroi 18 15 07 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 19 12 13 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 20 28 02 20 NOKIA Drake 21 18 46 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 22 19 42 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 23 16 27 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 24 21 28 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 25 23 67 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 26 NE 01 26 DEAR GOD Tate McRae 27 29 03 27 ORDINARY Alex Warren 28 24 04 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 29 26 22 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 30 27 29 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 31 22 02 22 BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 32 17 38 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 33 NE 01 33 PURPLE LACE BRA Tate McRae 34 NE 01 34 MISS POSSESSIVE Tate McRae 35 32 188 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 36 31 38 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 37 RE 18 14 IT'S OK I'M OK Tate McRae 38 33 49 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 39 37 79 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 40 RE 07 14 2 HANDS Tate McRae 41 34 31 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 42 36 10 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 43 35 33 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 44 55 02 44 DIE TRYING PartyNextDoor, Drake & Yebba 45 67 19 07 CHIHIRO Billie Eilish 46 45 20 30 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 47 NE 01 47 BLOODONMYHANDS Tate McRae feat. FloMilli 48 51 242 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 49 48 113 22 WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS Luke Combs 50 49 40 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan Bubbling Under 12 (16) I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 13 (14) DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya 14 (13) BMF SZA 15 (09) SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 16 (12) 30 FOR 30 SZA, Kendrick Lamar 17 (NE) EXTRAL Jennie, Doechii 18 (18) 15 MINUTES Sabrina Carpenter 19 (NE) CALL ME WHEN YOU BREAK UP Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, Gracie Abrams 20 (20) CRY FOR ME The Weeknd Albums 01 NE 001 01 SO CLOSE TO WHAT Tate McRae 02 01 027 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 03 04 041 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 04 05 116 01 SOS SZA 05 03 014 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 06 02 002 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 07 07 046 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 08 09 036 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 09 NE 001 09 RECENCY BIAS Rum Jungle 10 10 022 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 11 08 004 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 12 11 212 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 13 06 038 01 BRAT Charli XCX 14 14 309 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 15 24 187 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 16 13 363 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 17 NE 001 17 PEOPLE WATCHING Sam Fender 18 NE 001 18 NEW LOVE Ziggy Alberts 19 16 097 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 20 17 104 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 21 19 143 03 HOZIER Hozier 22 15 045 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 23 20 403 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 24 18 197 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 25 21 090 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 26 31 458 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 27 22 277 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 28 28 475 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 29 29 348 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 30 30 240 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 31 25 077 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 32 23 005 02 CAN'T RUSH GREATNESS Central Cee 33 33 520 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 34 32 120 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 35 38 046 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 36 34 288 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 37 39 018 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 38 26 280 02 DAMN. Kendrick Lamar 39 27 027 15 TAKE CARE Drake 40 52 233 40 GREATEST HITS Pitbull 41 46 207 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 42 40 381 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 43 37 070 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 44 NE 001 44 BIG OLE ALBUM VOL. 1 A Day To Remember 45 48 351 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 46 49 083 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 47 43 434 02 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS Bruno Mars 48 41 046 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 49 47 291 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 50 63 343 16 GREATEST HITS: GOD'S FAVORITE BAND Green Day First thing's first, I've been tagging these posts with '2024' for 2 months now, what a shambles. "APT." returns to #1 for a 12th week at the top. I suspect it was very close because "luther" held a solid lead over it all week on Spotify, but lacks the sales to combine with that. It's possible that "HUMBLE." also missed out on #1 due to sales, it's been a hot minute, but that also did get to #1 on Spotify. Tate McRae debuts many songs in the chart this week, and gets "Sports car" just a little bit higher than before in the process. She's also responsible for kicking out the last Australian song in the top 50, but she brings The Kid LAROI in with her so it balances out I guess. Billie Eilish's Australian tour isn't quite lighting up the chart like I expected, or at least it can't fight off the inevitable decline for a song that's been sitting around the top 5 for 9 months now. With that in mind, "APT." looks most likely to stay at #1 next week. Tate McRae scores her first ever #1 album. Last time she was so close, debuting behind incumbent Taylor Swift, but this week she achieves the what. Australian music does make it over to the album chart this week though. For once it's also a relatively new act. Rum Jungle charting for the first time ever and landing in the top 10 to boot. That puts them ahead of streaming stalwart and occasional bad opinion haver Ziggy Alberts. Sam Fender makes some inroads as well. His last album just snuck into the top 50, now he's sneaking into the top 20. A Day To Remember once had a #1 album, but they've also had a history of dodgy release patterns. I remember years ago when they charted in the top 100 on one or two days of sales, and then had a stunted climb into the top 50 the week after. This time they're charting low just on physical sales with an album that's not out on streaming just yet, guess only Adele can pull it off. In case you were wondering, that's not a new peak for Pitbull but maybe he gets there next week.

Going to out myself as responsible for this sort of thing: I don't listen to new music on Saturdays generally. I do that on the Friday, and won't put new stuff into rotation until after the weekend. If we want to subscribe to the idea of New Music Friday as a concept, you're inevitably going to see declines like this, even for the biggest of hits. "As It Was" by Harry Styles remained at #1 but declined from 1.2 million streams to 0.8 million streams in a single Saturday when it first came out, a very similar decline percentage-wise to Benson going #61->#201 in a single day.

Not quite that low I think. #100 on sales in Australia is usually around 30-40 a week so in the UK it might be 60-100. Definitely a lot of ties though.

Alright so to look further at it, something I find myself habitually doing is sorting the kworb chart by days charting and see how old the 45th-ish (about as much as fits on my monitor) newest song is on the chart. When we're in real dire straits, I've seen the Australian one get to around 100 days charting (maybe 80 in the UK). Currently in the UK it's 35 which is really good. A lot of Tate McRae album tracks but they're still new songs people are listening to whatever way you look at it. Anyway, I did make that graph I wanted to make I couldn't go back further because my old tweets wouldn't load, but the chart starts in February 2023 and ends at present. I've been keeping track of this very specific stat on a weekly basis for several years now because it fascinates me and is a solid barometer on the state of new music. I remember it was a big moment around 2019/2020 when it started to go over 100 for the first time, and it seemed the trend would keep up, but it just hasn't. This week, we nearly hit the lowest number of 'old' songs in the chart in about 6 years! The only time it was ever lower was last year when Taylor Swift (and to a lesser extent Billie Eilish) was taking up pristine real estate with her new album for several weeks. Yes, this isn't the UK chart although I do think it follows a very similar pattern. Yes, it's not everyone's definition of new music, but I think the core principle, that less of the chart is made up of oldies listened to by people will no interest in new music, is more important to the perpetuation of new music than whether or not some songs that may well take off in the weeks to come have charged right out the gate to do so.

There's a graph I want to make (it'll take a while), but I feel like new music is really thriving lately?? I've been surprised at the rate in which some immovable objects have been getting booted down the charts. Also those Tate McRae & Sam Fender albums that came out only a week ago have done very well I think. If you need a constant IV drip of new hits every single week, or think a song is old news because it's a couple of months old, you're gonna run into this issue, but I'm not seeing it right now.

People are free to do that if they want, but I fall on the other side of it. Records are made to be broken. I think too many people cling to records of yesteryear and invent excuses to stop it from actually counting when they are broken. They want the prestige of an 'all time' record, but they only want the 'all time' to include the time period that's convenient to them. They want everyone else to acknowledge the achievements and prestige accomplished by those that they're interested, but they won't return the favour the other way around. They're not actually interested in the records as a concept, but the fact that the records they choose to consider important help embolden their perspective. Once someone does that, it's no surprise that they'll cling onto it in perpetuity. What should be a celebration of accomplishment and intrigue just turns into more generational superiority wars. It sure is convenient that the people who complain about the nature of the charts nowadays seem to have a strong Venn diagram overlap with the people who complain about the quality of the music nowadays. The two shouldn't be linked, and yet one view seems to galvanise the other.

If we're calling hip-hop sales into question, then don't forget that "4X4" by Travis Scott is probably the best selling single of the year in America, and maybe even globally(?) by a country mile. Comparing sales numbers & streaming often gets into territory akin to the millionaire vs. billionaire (ie the literal magnitudes of difference) shock realisation. If we were given the iTunes chart in the same way as the Spotify chart, the general insignificance of it would be more blatantly highlighted. Really though, comparing eras, getting into the kinds of stan wars that entails, it's just a fool's gambit. Different eras are more conducive to different kinds of milestones and achievements, and those who are holding onto the ones of the past will move the goal posts anyway. 15 years ago digital sales were considered cheating by some, the idea that infinite shelf-life could (and did) produce higher sales figures than had ever been achieved before. When sales are held up as the standard even now, the people doing so generally choose to ignore how much of it is boosted through double-triple purchasing, or rather just prefer to sweep it under the rug in the long term. That's ignoring how incongruous it is to compare different eras with drastically different populations (there are 2.5x as many people in the world now than during the height of Beatlemania), different accessibility, and different lifestyles that cultivate different levels of interest. I'll be the first to point out the various shortcomings & issues with the collation of streams, and the way most pundits tend to interpret it, but I think it's very good that we now have a very wide audience from which to cast this net. Leaving everything in charge of just the people who have disposable income is not going to survey the population in a particularly useful way when most revenue comes elsewhere. Signed a person who still does purchase everything I listen to.

Reckon it's still banking via its early streaming success. When you combine both versions, it's not even making Kendrick's top 40 on daily global Spotify streams (same with the Maroon 5 track), so you have to figure it's destined to just slip away as the years go by.

Step 1: Pick a chart Step 2: Click on the earliest possible year that has a bar (in this case 2018) Step 3: Mouse over a date on the calender that has a circle, and click an available snapshot Step 4: Bear with the loading screen Step 5: Success, I believe.

Always with the binaries. Her last album debuted at #2 in the US & Aus, and #6 in the UK. That's a fanbase.

24/02/2024 Singles 01 01 41 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 02 08 13 02 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 03 02 18 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 04 03 12 01 MESSY Lola Young 05 04 18 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 06 06 27 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 07 05 40 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 08 22 81 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 09 07 25 07 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 10 09 57 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 11 11 10 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 12 16 12 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 13 10 45 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 14 14 45 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 15 13 06 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 16 19 26 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 17 39 37 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 18 15 45 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 19 18 41 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 20 23 40 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 21 21 27 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 22 NE 01 22 BUSY WOMAN Sabrina Carpenter 23 24 66 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 24 12 03 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 25 17 04 10 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 26 20 21 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 27 25 28 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 28 NE 01 28 NOKIA Drake 29 27 02 27 ORDINARY Alex Warren 30 35 10 09 SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 31 26 37 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 32 41 187 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 33 29 48 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 34 36 30 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 35 42 32 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 36 44 09 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 37 34 78 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 38 NE 01 38 CN TOWER PartyNextDoor, Drake 39 53 08 39 30 FOR 30 SZA, Kendrick Lamar 40 59 106 02 HUMBLE. Kendrick Lamar & Skrillex 41 37 08 16 BMF SZA 42 28 38 24 WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Luke Combs 43 33 02 33 DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya 44 NE 01 44 GIMME A HUG Drake 45 56 19 30 BAD DREAMS Teddy Swims 46 38 03 21 I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 47 43 41 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 48 30 112 22 WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS Luke Combs 49 51 39 12 PINK SKIES Zach Bryan 50 45 70 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan Bubbling Under 17 (NE) DIE TRYING PartyNextDoor, Drake & Yebba 18 (NE) 15 MINUTES Sabrina Carpenter 19 (NE) MOTH BALLS PartyNextDoor, Drake 20 (11) CRY FOR ME The Weeknd Albums 01 04 026 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 02 NE 001 02 $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U PartyNextDoor, Drake 03 01 013 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 04 03 040 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 05 05 115 01 SOS SZA 06 07 037 01 BRAT Charli XCX 07 06 045 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 08 02 003 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 09 08 035 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 10 11 021 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 11 10 211 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 12 NE 001 12 OH! THE OCEAN The Wombats 13 09 362 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 14 25 308 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 15 16 044 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 16 18 096 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 17 17 103 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 18 19 196 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 19 21 142 03 HOZIER Hozier 20 22 402 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 21 20 089 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 22 12 276 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 23 15 004 02 CAN'T RUSH GREATNESS Central Cee 24 49 186 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 25 26 076 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 26 36 279 02 DAMN. Kendrick Lamar 27 34 026 15 TAKE CARE Drake 28 32 474 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 29 30 347 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 30 33 239 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 31 31 457 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 32 28 119 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 33 27 519 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 34 39 287 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 35 NE 001 35 LIGHT HIT MY FACE LIKE A STRAIGHT RIGHT Mallrat 36 NE 001 36 ATMOSPHERICS Hands Like Houses 37 43 069 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 38 40 045 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 39 29 017 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 40 41 380 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 41 35 045 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 42 23 099 02 GETTIN' OLD Luke Combs 43 52 433 02 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS Bruno Mars 44 42 011 02 ROSIE Rosé 45 37 105 01 VIEWS Drake 46 50 206 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna 47 48 290 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 48 46 350 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 49 44 082 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 50 38 013 03 WICKED: THE SOUNDTRACK Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande "Not Like Us" is #1 for a second week. I wish to pay respect to my tradition of putting stupid jokes and references in the subheader each week when I post the new chart. Let it be known that the last one was a joke at Drake's expense. Speaking of which, he dropped a new album on us and then left the country pre-maturely without finishing his tour. I'm trying to catch up on my usual weekly business so I'm not going to say too much here, just that "luther" or "APT." will probably be #1 next week. Also Skrillex's egregious crediting on "HUMBLE." will probably survive the heat death of the universe.

Thank you, I'm very bored at my computer on a Sunday night :P I'll stop now.

Can't believe people are listening to those Tate McRae & Sam Fender albums, don't they know they were recorded back in 2024, so old. :drama:

Update: I have played UFO 50 now and it deserves all those accolades given to it by me. Genuine 'makes everyone else look bad by comparison' vibes.

17/02/2024 Singles 01 27 40 01 NOT LIKE US Kendrick Lamar 02 02 17 01 APT. Rosé, Bruno Mars 03 01 11 01 MESSY Lola Young 04 03 17 01 THAT'S SO TRUE Gracie Abrams 05 06 39 01 BIRDS OF A FEATHER Billie Eilish 06 04 26 02 DIE WITH A SMILE Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars 07 22 24 07 PINK PONY CLUB Chappell Roan 08 16 12 03 LUTHER Kendrick Lamar 09 09 56 01 BEAUTIFUL THINGS Benson Boone 10 07 44 04 GOOD LUCK, BABE Chappell Roan 11 05 09 05 THE DAYS - NOTION REMIX Chrystal 12 50 02 12 ABRACADABRA Lady Gaga 13 18 05 13 DENIAL IS A RIVER Doechii 14 08 44 01 A BAR SONG (TIPSY) Shaboozey 15 12 44 01 ESPRESSO Sabrina Carpenter 16 47 11 12 TV OFF Kendrick Lamar 17 10 03 10 SPORTS CAR Tate McRae 18 13 40 01 I HAD SOME HELP Post Malone feat. Morgan Wallen 19 15 25 01 TASTE Sabrina Carpenter 20 11 20 11 TIMELESS The Weeknd, Playboi Carti 21 14 26 08 SAILOR SONG Gigi Perez 22 58 80 02 ALL THE STARS Kendrick Lamar & SZA 23 25 39 14 WILDFLOWER Billie Eilish 24 17 65 04 LOSE CONTROL Teddy Swims 25 40 27 01 GUESS Charli XCX feat. Billie Eilish 26 19 36 19 AIN'T NO LOVE IN OKLAHOMA (FROM TWISTERS: THE ALBUM) Luke Combs 27 NE 01 27 ORDINARY Alex Warren 28 24 37 24 WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE Luke Combs 29 28 47 01 TOO SWEET Hozier 30 26 111 22 WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS Luke Combs 31 23 98 02 FAST CAR Luke Combs 32 37 46 21 SLOW IT DOWN Benson Boone 33 NE 01 33 DREAMIN Dom Dolla feat. Daya 34 43 77 06 I REMEMBER EVERYTHING Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves 35 RE 09 09 SQUABBLE UP Kendrick Lamar 36 30 29 07 I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY Gracie Abrams 37 33 07 16 BMF SZA 38 21 02 21 I'M THE PROBLEM Morgan Wallen 39 39 36 01 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Sabrina Carpenter 40 20 02 20 CRY FOR ME The Weeknd 41 36 186 01 IRIS Goo Goo Dolls 42 29 31 21 THE DOOR Teddy Swims 43 35 40 11 STARGAZING Myles Smith 44 41 08 23 INDIGO Sam Barber feat. Avery Anna 45 34 69 01 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 46 32 82 32 BEAUTIFUL CRAZY Luke Combs 47 57 33 19 HOT TO GO! Chappell Roan 48 NE 01 48 BORN AGAIN Lisa feat. Doja Cat & Raye 49 44 240 04 DREAMS Fleetwood Mac 50 42 27 26 KISSES BL3SS x CamrinWatsin feat. bbyclose Bubbling Under 14 (17) 30 FOR 30 SZA, Kendrick Lamar 15 (12) GBP Central Cee, 21 Savage 16 (19) LIKE HIM Tyler, The Creator 17 (14) FAT JUICY & WET Sexyy Red & Bruno Mars 18 (10) SÃO PAULO The Weeknd feat. Anitta 19 (18) STICKY Tyler, The Creator 20 (26) GOOD NEWS Shaboozey Albums 01 15 012 01 GNX Kendrick Lamar 02 01 002 01 HURRY UP TOMORROW The Weeknd 03 03 039 01 HIT ME HARD AND SOFT Billie Eilish 04 02 025 01 SHORT N' SWEET Sabrina Carpenter 05 04 114 01 SOS SZA 06 07 044 03 THE RISE AND FALL OF A MIDWEST PRINCESS Chappell Roan 07 12 036 01 BRAT Charli XCX 08 06 034 01 THE SECRET OF US Gracie Abrams 09 05 361 05 THIS ONE'S FOR YOU Luke Combs 10 08 210 02 THE HIGHLIGHTS The Weeknd 11 13 020 04 +-=÷× (TOUR COLLECTION) Ed Sheeran 12 10 275 01 WHAT YOU SEE AIN'T ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET Luke Combs 13 11 026 03 FATHERS & SONS Luke Combs 14 NE 001 14 LOVER - LIVE FROM PARIS Taylor Swift 15 09 003 02 CAN'T RUSH GREATNESS Central Cee 16 14 043 01 THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT Taylor Swift 17 16 102 01 ONE THING AT A TIME Morgan Wallen 18 19 095 03 THE DIAMOND COLLECTION Post Malone 19 21 195 01 SOUR Olivia Rodrigo 20 22 088 06 STICK SEASON Noah Kahan 21 18 141 03 HOZIER Hozier 22 20 401 11 SINGLES COLLECTION Maroon 5 23 17 098 02 GETTIN' OLD Luke Combs 24 NE 001 24 PARASOMNIA Dream Theater 25 28 307 01 WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Billie Eilish 26 24 075 01 GUTS Olivia Rodrigo 27 32 518 01 RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac 28 36 118 02 GRADUATION Kanye West 29 34 016 01 CHROMAKOPIA Tyler, The Creator 30 25 346 01 AM Arctic Monkeys 31 27 456 01 TEENAGE DREAM: THE COMPLETE CONFECTION Katy Perry 32 29 473 01 CURTAIN CALL: THE HITS Eminem 33 26 238 01 FOLKLORE Taylor Swift 34 51 025 15 TAKE CARE Drake 35 46 044 17 FIREWORKS & ROLLERBLADES Benson Boone 36 69 278 02 DAMN. Kendrick Lamar 37 55 104 01 VIEWS Drake 38 23 012 03 WICKED: THE SOUNDTRACK Wicked Movie Cast, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande 39 30 286 01 LOVER Taylor Swift 40 35 044 07 PAPERCUTS Linkin Park 41 31 379 01 REPUTATION Taylor Swift 42 38 010 02 ROSIE Rosé 43 33 068 01 1989 (TAYLOR'S VERSION) Taylor Swift 44 42 081 01 UTOPIA Travis Scott 45 57 003 45 ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL Doechii 46 40 349 03 DIAMONDS Elton John 47 47 026 02 F-1 TRILLION Post Malone 48 37 289 01 STARBOY The Weeknd 49 54 185 01 HAPPIER THAN EVER Billie Eilish 50 41 205 02 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD Rihanna For nearly 10 years I've had to roll with the fact that Kendrick Lamar's only #1 hit in Australia is "Bad Blood". In what must have been a reasonably close call, "Not Like Us" ascends to the top spot after having previously peaked at #5 in 2024. We found out that it merely had the same peak as "The Days" by Chrystal and took that personally. This is the sort of impact that's never been experience from a Super Bowl half-time show. I will shout out Rihanna's "We Found Love" for landing some very impressive longevity after the fact, but this is something else. The big question is what will happen next week. "Not Like Us" holds a strong start, but "luther" is making some ground too, and will attempt to improve its #3 peak position, or at least make it feel like less of a fluke than it was last year. In the midst of this, something I wasn't sure might ever happen is that Chappell Roan's highest song on the chart isn't "Good Luck, Babe!", as "Pink Pony Club" overtakes it en route to becoming her second top 10 hit. Alongside all of this, Lady Gaga has the biggest climb of the week with "Abracadabra", although it'll need a jolt somewhere to stop it from going right back down next week. Alex Warren has the highest debut of the week which is also his second top 50 hit in a quick burst. It was not a good week for Australian music as "Somedays" and "Riptide" both dropped out, we'd have nothing across both charts if not for Dom Dolla. We must raise the 🚨 NEW AUSTRALIAN MUSIC KLAXON 🚨 once more for "Dreamin", which will hope to grab more weeks in the top 50 but looks like having a "Rhyme Dust" kind of trajectory. The other day (or months ago if you're up to date on syndication) on Jeopardy! all three contestants names started with the letter D and Ken said something like 'good luck to the D's', coincidentally (only for me), we have a very D-infused debut, which is also Daya's first top 50 hit since 2016. Once again, the relatively recent addition of YouTube streams to the ARIA Chart is beneficial to members of BLACKPINK, as LISA scores a top 50 hit that probably wouldn't have gotten there otherwise. Kendrick Lamar returns for a second week at #1 for "GNX". You might think 'Oh, that's interesting, the same artist is #1 with a single that's not on the album they're at #1 with'. It definitely doesn't happen very often, but it's not even been a year since Taylor Swift did the same thing with "Cruel Summer" and "Midnights". Incidentally, "Midnights" falls out of the top 50 for the first time ever this week. It's not all bad news for her though, she has the highest debut with "Lover (Live From Paris)". Dream Theatre score an 8th top 50 album, a touch higher than their last one that only made #42. It's not super common we get an album climbing into the top 50, but Doechii's gone and done that this week. I also just have to remind everyone that it's made incredibly funny that "Not Like Us" is #1 on the charts because Drake spent that very week touring Australia. He doesn't have any singles chart entries to show for it, but does return with "Take Care" and "Views", they're sitting right next to "DAMN.". Speaking of Australian tours, Billie Eilish plays her first show here tonight and she'll be in the country for a few weeks. This is the part where I make a disparaging joke about how she wasn't able to come to Perth and so as far as I'm concerned she isn't here, but I suspect she'll be Luke Combsing up the charts soon enough.