Yesterday, Tone Deaf reported on the rather dismal state of album sales in Australia. While this week did not see the ARIA album chart crown a new lowest selling No. 1 album in Australian chart history, it did come dangerously close.
Following two No. 1 debuts from two acclaimed homegrown bands is one of the worst album sales weeks the Australian charts have seen in quite some time, if the chart itself is anything to go by.
The number one album in the country is currently Title, the full-length debut from US pop star Meghan Trainor, followed by new entires from Josh Pyke (But For All These Shrinking Hearts) and Gurrumul (The Gospel Album).
Rounding out the chart are Ed Sheeran’s X and Taylor Swift’s latest smash, 1989 – two albums that were released back in 2014, and in Sheeran’s case, all the way back in June. Title, meanwhile, is currently in its 30th week on the chart.
The album previously debuted in the top spot back in January and spent 27 weeks in the top ten, spending the rest of the time in the top 50. According to a source close to Tone Deaf, Trainor’s debut sold approximately 4,000 copies this week.
Now, News Corp reports that Trainor managed to shift 4,149 copies of her album, which is not far off from the 3,600 units sold by UK metalcore outfit Bring Me The Horizon to top the album chart five years ago – the lowest selling No. 1 in Aussie chart history.
This also means that Josh Pyke’s But for All These Shrinking Hearts was beaten to the No. 1 spot by just 403 copies, though the singer-songwriter did manage to nab his fifth top 10 album and break his previous peak of No. 3.
“Trainor managed to shift 4,149 copies of her album, which is not far off from the lowest selling No. 1 in Aussie chart history.”Among the biggest sellers to hit No. 1 this year are Taylor Swift, with 19,246 copies of 1989, Florence & the Machine (15,706), Muse (12,047), Tame Impala (11,415), Mumford & Sons (11,038), and Hermitude (10,352).
Meanwhile, at the lower end of the spectrum, Ed Sheeran managed to put X into the No. 1 spot during its 53rd week on the chart by moving just 3,777 copies, followed by Megan Trainor (4,149), John Farnham & Olivia-Newton John (4,765), Madonna (6,962), and Northlane (5,824).
Things are a bit healthier over on the singles chart, where One Direction managed to top the ARIA singles chart following 30,766 downloads of their first release as a four piece, ‘Drag Me Down’, last week.
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However, unlike the singles chart, the ARIA album chart is calculated from physical and digital sales, and has yet to include data from streaming sites including Spotify, Rdio, and Apple Music. ARIA began including streaming figures into the singles chart last November.
After seeing a 6.8 percent rise in profits in 2013, Aussie music sales suffered their worst decline ever in 2014.
And while ARIA’s end-of-year sales numbers indicate Australians are indeed buying more Aussie music every year, an investigation by Tone Deaf back in October 2014 confirmed that no Australian artist album had gone platinum in 2014.
Biggest Sellers To Hit No. 1 In 2015
Taylor Swift — 19,246
Florence & the Machine — 15,706
Muse — 12,047
Tame Impala — 11,415
Mumford & Sons – 11,038
Hermitude — 10,352
Smallest Sellers To Hit No. 1 In 2015
Ed Sheeran — 3,777 (53rd week on chart)
Megan Trainor — 4,149 (30th week on chart)
John Farnham & Olivia-Newton John — 4,765 (second week on chart)
Madonna — 6,962 (debut week on chart)
Northlane — 5,824 (debut week on chart)
Figures via News Corp
