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It’s another chart week, another chart double for KPop Demon Hunters (Republic/Universal) in Australia.
The soundtrack to the hit animated Netflix film is flying at the top of the ARIA leaderboard for a ninth non-consecutive week. Among soundtracks, ARIA reports, that effort equals the nine week run by the 1997 soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet.
Since the ARIA Charts were first published in 1983, only four soundtracks have logged more weeks at the top, according to the charts compiler: the Australian cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar (10 weeks in 1992); plus Titanic (1998), Moulin Rouge (2001) and A Star Is Born (2018), which each led for 11 weeks.
Meanwhile, the top track from KPop Demon Hunters, “Golden,” reigns over the ARIA Singles Chart for a ninth consecutive week. That’s closing in on the all-time mark for a hit from an animated film, currently set at 12 weeks by Pharrell Williams’ 2014 single “Happy” from Despicable Me 2.
Back with the ARIA Albums Chart, Ocean Alley’s Love Balloon (via Community Music) lifts off for a No. 3 debut, the highest start for any new release on the current frame, published Friday, Sept. 26.
Recorded in three stints over about three months, Love Balloon is Ocean Alley’s fifth studio album, and first recorded with legendary American rock producer Nick DiDia (Bruce Springsteen, Rage Against The Machine).
With that bright start, Love Balloon is the Sydney indie-rock outfit’s third consecutive collection to hit No. 3, following 2020’s Lonely Diamond and 2022’s Low Altitude Living. Their breakthrough second album from 2018, Chiaroscuro, which housed the triple j Hottest 100 leader “Confidence,” reached No. 11 on the national survey.
Ocean Alley scores silverware as Love Balloon is crowned on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Albums chart, a feat they celebrated Saturday at London’s Alexandra Palace, with a headline show for more than 8,000 fans.
Also debuting in the top tier is Cardi B‘s sophomore studio album, Am I The Drama? (Atlantic/Warner), new at No. 8. Drama is the followup to the Bronx rapper’s 2018, Invasion Of Privacy, which peaked at No. 5.
Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails bags a top 10 with the soundtrack to TRON: Ares (Interscope/Universal). It’s new at No. 10 for the American industrial rock act’s sixth top tier effort in Australia, a tally that includes a best of No. 2 for 1999’s The Fragile. Daft Punk’s soundtrack to TRON: Legacy reached No. 17 in 2011.
Lola Young just misses out on a top 10 berth with I’m Only F—ing Myself (Island/Universal), her third album. It’s new at No. 12, for the British singer’s first ARIA Albums Chart appearance.
Further down the list, published late Friday, September 26th, Brisbane band Platonic Sex crack the top 40 with their debut album Face To The Flywire (Orchard). It’s new at No. 31.
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