Chart Wrap: Pharrell and INXS break ARIA chart records

ARIA SINGLES Pharell Williams’ Happy is back at #1, after slipping to #2 last week. This puts Happy in equal place with Eminem’s mum’s spaghetti anthem Lose Yourselfas the second longest-running #1 in ARIA chart history (and the longest run at #1 this decade) – with 12 (non-consecutive) weeks at the top of the charts. If the track stays on top next week (or any subsequent week), it will tie for longest running #1 in chart history with Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise, which sat on top for 13 weeks back in the halcyon days of 1995. Last week’s #1: 5 Seconds Of Summer’s She Looks So Perfect, has fallen to #4 this week, although increased radio love and a recently sold-out Australian tour should mean this track will hang around the Top 10 for a number of weeks still. Perennial bridesmaid Clean Bandit’s Rather Be has jumped back up to second place, with The Chainsmokers’#Selfie leaping to #3, from #5. Gabrielle Aplin’s The Power Of Love has entered the Top 5, jumping up two places to occupy #5. Elsewhere, Sia’s Chandelier has hit #10 in its second week in the chart, her first ARIA Top 10 single. Highest debut was another Aussie, with Joel Fletcher and Seany B’s Loco entering at #13, like Sia did the week before. More good news for Aussies still, with Sheppard’s Geronimo rising ten places to hit #18, matching their highest ever placing: when their self-titled debut EP hit that spot last July. ARIA ALBUMS As of this week, what do INXS have in common with Cold Chisel, Led Zeppelin and The Eagles? Well, they all found their biggest sales success posthumously; week six at the top of the ARIA Albums chart means INXS have scored their longest running #1 to date. Funnily enough, it was thirty years ago last week that INXS first hit #1 with The Swing, which spent five non-consecutive weeks at the top of the charts. Surprisingly, Steel Panther have debuted this week at a massive #2, with their album All You Can Eat. As The Darkness, Tenacious D and Spinal Tap have shown, Australians love a bit of tongue-in-cheek cock rock. Another surprisingly high debut comes in the form of Johnny Cash’s Out Among The Stars, which entered at #4. Shakira’s self-titled set entered at #8, If You Wait by London Grammar leapt back into the Top 10, jumping from #17 to #9, and John Butler Trio’s Flesh and Blood moved from #15 to #10, no doubt due to his recent radio success. Elsewhere, The Aston Shuffle debuted at #12, with Photographs, Gabrielle Aplin’s English Rain jumped ten spots to sit at #14, and Troy Cassar Daley and Adam Harvey’s controversial The Great Country Songbook re-entered the chart at #19. Christina Perri’s Head Or Heart entered at #23; one spot below Band Of Skulls debuted with Himalayan, while below them, at #25, Architecture In Helsinki’s Now + 4EVA debuted. Recent news of Violent Soho’s national tour – or maybe it’s knock-on effects from the recent Cobain focus – has seen their excellent Hungry Ghost jump from #49 to #26. Other chart debuts came in the form of Glee: The Music – Celebrating 100 Episodes (#35), Pocketknife by Mr. Little Jeans (#40), and Pulses by Karmin (#46). HOT 100 When radio stops supporting a song, they really stop! Pharrell Williams’ Happy, after three months of chart domination, has dropped from #2 to #8 – although his latest single Marilyn Monroe, at radio today, could well see him back on top before too long. Clean Bandit cling onto the top spot for a second week, but with Calvin Harris’ Summer leaping to #3 in only its third week in the chart, and 5 Seconds To Summer sitting at #4 – not to mention a batch of incredibly strong singles at radio today, Sia’s latest climbing quickly, and Sheppard eying the top spot – it’s going to be a volatile few weeks in the charts. Consider this week’s Hot 100 to be the calm before the storm.