News March 13, 2017

On the charts: Aussie talent scarce as Ed Sheeran divides and conquers

Tyler Jenke

Ed Sheeran has dominated Aussie charts once again, with an array of singles, and third album ÷ (Divide), sitting pretty on top of the charts, with Aussies doing their best to catch up to the charismatic Englishman.

When Ed Sheeran’s newest album Divide came out this week, fans knew that there was going to be some domination by Sheeran in the albums and singles charts, and despite an awful review for the new album by Pitchfork which labelled the album as ‘bland’, Sheeran has done exactly what critics and fans knew he would do.

The singles charts see Sheeran break a number of records this week, with a total of 16 tracks within the ARIA top 40 singles charts, the most ever by a single artist. With no living artist ever having had more than 14 tracks in the top 100, Sheeran has broken this record and charted with a total of 18 tracks. Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’, and ‘Castle On The Hill’ are the most successful this week, taking up the first two positions.

While no Australian artists feature within the top 20, Lorde has managed to crack the number four position with ‘Green Light’, the first single from her upcoming record Melodrama. To find our first Aussies in the singles charts, we have to go all the way to #22, where Pnau’s ‘Chameleon’ is sitting after a drop from #10 last week. Amy Shark’s ‘Adore’ is sitting at #26, the Ryan Riback of Starley’s ‘Call On Me’ sits at #33, while the Peking Duk’s ‘Stranger’ rounds out the Aussie entries in the chart, sitting at the #50 position.

Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran and Adele dominate the albums charts, with both artists filling out the top five positions. Sheeran’s Divide sits at the top, while his previous chart-topping albums, 2014’s Multiply, and 2011’s Plus, are sitting at three and five, respectively. Likewise, Adele’s previous chart topping albums, 25 and 21 are sitting at the number two and number four positions, respectively.

Last week’s Aussie chat-toppers, The Waifs’ Ironbark, has seen a drop down to number seven, while All Our Exes Live In Texas’ debut record When We Fall makes its debut in the charts at number 8. Kingswood’s second LP After Hours, Close To Dawn makes its entrance into the charts at number ten, while Methyl Ethyl’s second record, Everything Is Forgotten, also makes a first appearance in the charts, reaching #16.

With Sheeran dominating the charts and keeping Aussies at bay in both the albums and singles charts, we’re certainly hoping to be seeing some more homegrown talent back on top of the charts in the coming weeks.