ARIA Top Ten/Chart Review: 20th November: Australia's heart is in Camila's Havana na na na

This week, I expected a Taylor Swift album bomb with the release of Reputation last Friday and the chart would be like my bedroom...messy to a massive degree

However what I got was anything but a Taylor Swift everywhere chart and no real album bomb to speak of, in fact we got a new number one and two new songs in the top ten. I'll explain why there has been no real Taylor Swift album bomb this week a bit later. 

First, the issue of the top ten, where both "New Rules" by Dua Lipa and "Feel It Still" by Portugal, the Man left the top ten. 

It also brings us to the fact that we have a new number one and my god, it has been coming for some time, it's her first number one and its also first time a member or ex-member of Fifth Harmony has hit number one, yes, "Havana" by Camila Cabello is Australia's new number one 1, this is despite not ruling streaming but is ruling sales and Youtube. 

All this meant that despite ruling streaming, "rockstar" by Post Malone and 21 Savage slipped back to number 2. I still see it as a player to get back to number 1 but needs sales to get there rather than just being reliant on streaming.

Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" got a boost off weakness of "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith to jump one place to number 3.

Now at number 4 is "I Fall Apart" by Post Malone, this was a sales and streaming giant through the week so could still make a play for number one as it has some serious momentum behind it.

Australia is loving Khalid at the moment with the first of two songs in the top ten is "Young, Dumb and Broke" remaining at number 5, he should be a massive favourite for Best New Artist at the Grammys next year.

As mentioned "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith slipped off it's album boost this week to drop 3 places to number 6.

"Silence" by Marshmello feat. Khalid jumps two places to number 7. The first of two songs inside the top ten for Marshmello and Khalid's second song inside the top 10.

"What Lovers Do" by Maroon 5 and SZA drops a place to number 8. Think it's largely in top 10 right now because it's very radio friendly.

I predicted this on Twitter last week, Marshmello's second song inside the top 10 is "Wolves" with Selena Gomez which climbed four places to number 9 this week.

Rounding out the top 10 is a new entry with "Walk on Water" by Eminem feat. Beyonce at number 10 and was the highest debuting new entry this week.

As for other new entries? Avicii's "Lonely together" with Rita Ora debuted at number 32 and "Feels Great" by Cheat Codes feat, Fetty Wap and CVBZ at number 45.

As for new entries outside the top 50, the best of those was Keith Urban's "Female" at number 55, "Coming Home" by Sheppard at 79, "No Limit" by G-Eazy, A$AP Rocky and Cardi B at number 96 (that song is absolutely huge in the US, predicted to crack the top ten soon) and the terrible "Tip toe" by Jason Derulo and French Montana at number 99. 

There were also two re-entries with "Location" by Khalid at 46 and for some inexplicable reason "Bad at Love" by Halsey re-entered at number 48.

As for the drop outs? The only real notable drop out was "Attention" by Charlie Puth but you'd expect that will make the year end list.

The other drop outs being "Lemon" by N.E.R.D and Rihanna, "Pray" by Sam Smith, "Without You" by Avici and Sandro Cavazza, and "Call It What you want" by Taylor Swift.

Speaking of Taylor Swift, she was one of the big gainers this week with "...Ready for it" climbing 10 places to 35 however that was it as far as her gains went with "Gorgeous" falling 11 to number 49 and "Look What You Made Me Do" falling one place to 43, no album tracks entered the ARIA chart this week largely due to Swift preferencing physical album sales ie: making people go out and buy the album which has meant people haven't been able to listen to "Reputation" on their favoured streaming service and the album bomb, that we saw for Ed Sheeran earlier this year where physical sales + streaming saw "Divide" just tear the ARIA Singles Chart apart, didn't happen for Taylor. Seems a bit of a dumb decision but I am sure she's not regretting it considering how well the album has sold in Australia and worldwide.

Outside of that the biggest gainer this week was "Man's Not Hot" by Big Shaq which climbed from 47 to 34, "Gucci Gang" by Lil Pump climbed 6 places to number 26 because people can't get enough of drug references, brand names and referring women in unpleasant ways. "Let You Down" by NF went up to 22 from 27. the other big mover was Rita Ora's "Anywhere" which climbed 12 places to 37 (now top 5 in the UK this week).

As for the biggest loser, that went to "Feels" by Calvin Harris feat. Pharrell, Katy Perry and Big Sean which dropped 25 places to number 50, already mentioned "Gorgeous, Kesha's "Praying" slipped 8 to 42 and former US number 1 "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)" by Cardi B really isn't catching on in Australia, it slipped from 33 to 36 this week.

So that completes this week and to be honest, I won't deny I am kind of happy we didn't get a Taylor Swift album bomb, she's probably done me a favour by not releasing "Reputation simultaneously as a physical release and a streaming release but the chart was interesting enough, can Havana stay at number one? All those questions and more to be answered next week!.

New Music Friday Review: Eminem/Beyonce boss it

After the crap show that was last week, we got some amazing quality in this week's New Music Friday playlist including a return by Eminem and he brought along one of the biggest female R 'n'B stars in the world while Sarah Blasko and Bastille were also amongst those that brough impressive quality to New Music Friday. Less said about another certain song that did it's best to drag down the quality.

Song: Walk on Water

Artists: Eminem, Beyonce

The much talked about return of Eminem has begun with a surprising ballad, one that isn't full of the usual Eminem bluff and bluster, instead this is Eminem at his most vulnerable, he knows he isn't the top dog in the rap game at the moment and there's a certain weariness to his voice that is very noticeable, There's a certain fallibility from Eminem and he knows it at least until right at the end where he returns to normal and raps quickly "Bitch, I wrote Stan". Beyonce just nails her hook, she sounds incredible, all this set to a piano. I am not the world's biggest rap fan or even Eminem fan but I did enjoy this from start to finish because it felt like something tangible and REAL.

Rating: 8/10

Song: Tip Toe

Artists; Jason DeRulo, French Montana\

Getting this done and out of the way because seriously whoever at DeRulo's record company green lighted this nonsense for public consumption was high on drugs, this is absolutely awful from start to finish. The hook is "Hold tight when you tip toe/Shake something when you tip toe"..uh what the hell is that supposed to mean?. The pre chorus is utterly forgettable too. Just another crap sex jam.

Rating: 3/10

Song: Lemon to a Knife Fight

Artist: The Wombats

The Wombats return with the lead off single for their new album to be released in 2018 and yeah, it's not that much different to what they did on Glitterbug but "Lemon to a Knife Fight" reminds me a little of the 80s especially in the vocals. It sounds great though!.

Rating: 9/10

Song: Phantom

Artist: Sarah Blasko

Ugh, Sarah Blasko is one of those artists I really should like more than I currently but "Phantom" could well be the start of me liking her material more.

"Phantom" is a sharper and harder song especially in the production with the piano and buzzing synths and Sarah sounds great over it. Nice job!

Rating: 8/10

Other songs to check out:

"Hurt" by Trophy Eyes (If ever there was a more blatant U2 sounding song, it's this one)

"World Gone Mad" by Bastille (Considering current events around the world, this could well be a massive hit. I wouldn't mind either cause it's damn good)

Best of the Week

Hard this week but I'm giving it to "Lemon to a Knife fight" by The Wombats just edging out "Walk on Water" by Eminem feat. Beyonce

Worst of the week

No debate here. "Tip Toe" by Jason DeRulo feat French Montana. If we're lucky, people will ignore this.

New Music Friday next week:

Lauren Jauregui is teaming up with Steve Aoki, Maggie Lindemann is finally releasing a follow up to "Pretty girl", Demi Lovato is the latest to get in on the popularity of Latin music by teaming up with Luis Fonsi.  

ARIA Top ten/Chart Review: 13th November

This week was, to put it bluntly a shocker, and despite the album bomb coming next week almost certain to cut a swathe through the current ARIA top 50 singles chart, things didn't slow down all that much with "Good Old Days" by Macklemore and Kesha dropping to number 11 from 8 last week and "Dusk til Dawn" by Zayn and Sia dropping to 12 from 9.

However no change at the top with Post Malone and 21 Savage continuing their rampant success with "Rockstar" having seventh week at number one. It could have a challenger next week in the new Eminem and Beyonce song "Walk on Water" though but we will soon find out.

"Havana" by Camila Cabello remains stable at number 2 and really, I am not convinced that this song is still any chance of getting number one right now, sure it's doing okay on iTunes but streaming continues to lag well behind "rockstar".

"Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith had resurgence courtesy of his album dropping jumping from number 10 to number 3.

What that meant is "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran fell to number 4 and "Young, Dumb and Broke" by Khalid to number 5.

Steady at number 6 is Post Malone's other top 10 hit "I Fall Apart".

New to the top 10 at number 7 is the best song from Red Pill Blues. "What Lovers Do" by Maroon 5 feat SZA. It climbed 7 places to jump into the top 10.

At number 8 is Portugal. The Man with "Feel It Still". So surprising how well this song has done. It really is.

"Silence" by Marshmello and Khalid is new to the top 10 at number 9, "Silence" climbed three places to sit within the top 10. (May not be Marshmello's only song inside the top 10 soon either!)

Rounding out the top 10 is "New Rules" by Dua Lipa which dropped 3 places to sit at the edge of the top 10, I expect that this song will fall out of the top 10 next week given the likely course of events through this week.


Biggest gainer of this week was Lil' Pump's "Gucci Gang" which went from 45 to 32 proving there is still a market for rappers to rap about brand names, cars, jewellery, crime and stealing your partner.
In other big gains this week, "How Long" by Charlie Puth broke into the top 20 by jumping from 24 to 19 (it's a decent song if I am being honest), "Let Me Go" by Hailee Steinfeld, Watt and Alesso also into the top 20 with a jump from 21 to 17 while NF looks like having a surprise hit with "Let You Down" jumping from 31 to 27.

As for the losers, "Gorgeous" by Taylor Swift slipped from 26 to 38, I expect that and other Taylor Swift songs will regain momentum with "Reputation" having been released. "Look What You Made Me Do" also dropped 10 places from 32 to 42, "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee is also on the way out having dropped from 39 to 46 but is set to be one of the biggest songs of the year when the year end chart is revealed in January.

As for the new entries inside the top 50? The top debut was "Call it What You Want" by Taylor Swift which will more than likely push top 10 next courtesy of the album drop, best of the new ones is Rita Ora's "Anywhere" which entered at 49 but the others? I can't say it's good that "Man's Not Hot" by Big Shaq entering at 47 and "Lemon" by N.E.R.D and Rihanna entering at 48 as both those songs are TERRIBLE.

Outside of the top 50 though... "Dirty Sexy Money" by David Guetta featuring Afrojack, Charli XCX and French Montana enters at 52, "Ghostface Killers" by 21 Savage, Offset and Metro Boomin' feat. Travis Scott at 69 (that could make top 50 considering 21 Savage is on the current number one) and at 89, "The Way Life Goes" by Lil Uzi Vert feat. Nicki Minaj and Oh Wonder.

Re entering the chart this week and it's because of the album drop, Sam Smith with "Pray" at number 41,

Three really big exits this week with Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" and Liam Payne feat Quavo's "Strip That Down exiting meaning that there is currently no One Direction band members on the ARIA chart at the moment, also exiting are DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts" feat. Rihanna and Bryson Tiller along with "Pretty Girl" by Maggie Lindemann. Those four songs should be safely into the year end top 100 of 2017. 
The only other drop out was "Revenge" by Pink feat. Eminem,

So next week should be interesting with the "Reputation" album bomb set to drop and "Walk on Water" by Eminem feat. Beyonce likely to debut in the top 10, what will survive is going to be quite interesting.

New Music Friday Review: N.E.R.D/Rihanna and more

Folks, we got a really bad week so the pickings are slim, we got a new single from N.E.R.D who teamed up with Rihanna, a David Guetta led collaboration involving Charli XCX and French Montana, and a new single from Vance Joy.


Song: Lemon
Artists; N.E.R.D, Rihanna





There's not a lot to say about this but given how sweet I imagined a collaboration between Pharrell Williams and Rihanna might sound however the sound that swirled through my head kind of turned sour when I heard this song because "Lemon" is an unadulterated mess from start to finish. In between N.E.R.D trying to bring back the 90s by shouting and Rihanna delivering an unconvincing rap on her verse complete with this awful beat. Ew. Just avoid it.


Rating: 3/10


Song: Dirty Sexy Money
Artists: David Guetta, Afrojack, Charli XCX and French Montana




So David Guetta is finally back with the follow up to his collab with Justin Bieber and this really isn't anything at all much other than being your basic club banger. French Montana drops a verse you'd hear in any of his songs, Charli XCX gives her usual performance but as I say, it's generic filler for the club scene.

Rating: 5/10



Song: Like Gold
Artist: Vance Joy





After the bright and unusually happy nature of "Lay It On Me" (which I loved this year), Vance Joy is back with a follow up and really, this doesn't feel like an inspired effort cause man "Like Gold" doesn't really go anywhere however it kind of makes sense given the song is about a failed relationship, still it was a bit of a struggle of a song. Ehhh...


Rating: 5/10



Song: Get Out of Your Own Way
Artists: U2, Kendrick Lamar






Ever get the feeling that U2 may just be back in form following the mess that was the album "Songs of Innocence", well, I have had that feeling majorly with the upcoming new U2 album "Songs of Experience". I love the harmonies on the chorus and Bono is sounding better than ever. This isn't as good as the rollicking "The Blackout" but this is U2 at the best they've been in a very long time.


Rating: 8/10


Best: Goes easily to U2 and Kendrick Lamar for "Get Out of your own way"

Worst: Another easy one. "Lemon" by N.E.R.D and Rihanna.

Next week: The Wombats, Bastille, Jennifer Lopez and who knows what else.

ARIA Chart top ten/Chart Review: November 6. Post Malone Falls Apart in top ten

This week was weird, not only did a certain song that I was expecting to re-enter in the top 10 fail to do so but we'll get to that. Leaving the top 10 was Macklemore and Skylar Grey's "Glorious" (Don't worry, there's still Macklemore inside the top 10) as it slipped to number 11.

Really the top 5 of our top 10 on the ARIA chart remained the same, Post Malone's "rockstar" feat. 21 Savage keeps hold of the number 1 with "rockstar" (he has a much better song called "Candy Paint" which entered the Billboard Hot 100 recently. it's much better than either "rockstar" or "I Fall Apart).

New UK and Canadian number 1 "Havana" by Camila Cabello feat. Young Thug remains at number 2 for another week.

"Perfect" by Ed Sheeran remains at three, "Young, Dumb and Broke" by Khalid at number 4 and "Feel It Still" by Portugal. The Man at number 5

Then we get to our new arrival in the top 10 and this is probably because of the current number 1 with "I Fall Apart" rising from 14 to number 6.

Rebounding from 10 to 7 is "New Rules" by Dua Lipa.

The other new arrival in the top 10 is Macklemore's collaboration with Kesha called "Good Old Days" jumping from 11 to 8.

"Dusk til Dawn" by Zayn and Sia dropped from 9 to 7 and "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith dropping from 8 to number 10. I expect "Too Good at Goodbyes" will get a boost from the album drop.

Biggest gain this week is "Let You Down" by NF which jumped from 43 to 31. "Silence" by Marshmello and Khalid looks to be on the verge of breakinginto the top ten climbing 4 places to number 12. Continuing a good week for Post Malone "Congratulations" (feat. Quavo) climbed to number 30.

Biggest loser this week was "Gorgeous" by Taylor Swift which fell from 9 to 26 while "Look What You Made Me Do" dropped from 26 to 32 but both should get an album boost when "reputation" drops, "Slow Hands" by Niall Horan lost it's gains from last week to slip to 41.

As for re-entries, Taylor Swift re-enters at 44 with "...Ready for It?" at number 44 because of the video which is odd, would have thought that it would have re-entered a bit higher but I guess that shows how divisive this album roll out is proving.
"Let You Down" by Peking Duk and Icona Pop re-enters at 49.


Two new entries inside the top 50 with "Wolves" by Selena Gomez and Marshmello entering at 15 to be the top debut, I wouldn't be surprised if this enters the top 10. The other new entry is the horrendous "Gucci Gang" by Lil Pump (PLEASE AUSTRALIA DO NOT MAKE THIS SONG A HIT!)

Outside the top 100 the best of the new entries was "I Miss You" by Clean Bandit feat. Julia Michaels entering at number 65, "Man's Not Hot" by Big Shaq at number 68 (that song has just entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the US), "Motorsport" by Migos, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B arrives at number 74 (I expect this song to break into the top 50), "Burning" by Sam Smith at 80, "Go Bang" by Pnau at 81 and finally "Way Out" by 360 feat. Teischa at 95.

So what dropped out? I'm pleased that the awful "Your Song" by Rita Ora and the bland "Back to You" by Louis Tomlinson feat. Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals exited but I'm not so happy that "Lose My Mind" by Dean Lewis exited the top 50 after just one week (is it really worth losing this terrific song so Lil Pump can enter the chart? Come on...). The other drop out is "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back" by Shawn Mendes but that should have enough credits to make the year end 100 anyway.

So that rounds up this week's chart review. This week should be the calm before Tropical Cyclone Reputation wreaks havoc on the chart but can "Havana" give Camila Cabello her first number one hit in Australia or will Post Malone and 21 Savage hold number one for another week?

New Music Friday Review: Selena Gomez and

So this week's New Music Friday saw new music from Selena Gomez teaming up with another EDM producer, Pitbull gets Fifth Harmony on board and Aussie rockers The Rubens return with a new single.


Song: Wolves.
Artists: Selena Gomez, Marshmello




It's not been a great year for Selena Gomez, sure she had success with "It Ain't Me" but it was more Kygo's song than hers and her two solo singles "Bad Liar" and "Fetish" performed badly on the charts so it's back to EDM producers she goes and this time she's teamed up with Marshmello for a song called "Wolves" and while on Twitter, I did say that I was bemused by some of the lyrics in the song after all wolves don't live in jungles but it's the second best thing Selena has done all year musically after the collaboration with Kygo, maybe this could well be a hit, it's okay I guess.

Rating: 6/10


Song: Por Favor
Artists: Pitbull, Fifth Harmony



A collab that I always thought was likely after all Pitbull or  "Mr Worldwide" as he seems like to refer to himself as has always struck me as a bit of a ladies man so it seemed a natural fit for him to record a song with Fifth Harmony. "Por Favor" is a Spanglish song that has long as you don't Google translate the Spanish language because they reveal Pitbull to be at his sleazy best.wamting this girl to give him kisses or french kisses while the Fifth Harmony girls play the woman and right at the end mentions rice with fried egg? Huh?


Rating: Like I said, it's alright if you ignore the English translation of the lyrics but I can't. 4.10


Song: Boom Boom
Artists: RedOne, Daddy Yankee, French Montana, Dinah Jane




Lauren's done it, Ally's done it so why not Dinah? She's the latest Fifth Harmony to step into the breech for a song outside of Fifth Harmony (which is odd consdering Fifth Harmony released an album earlier this year) and yeah, the chorus of "Boom Boom" interpolates the chorus of Modjo's hit "Lady" big time and is all about having a good time in the club which isn't as sleazy as some of Daddy Yankee's past work? "Despacito" anyone?


Rating: I'll take this over "Por Favor" even with the obvious Modjo chorus melody rip off. 6/10


Song: Million Man
Artist: The Rubens



So The Rubens are back with their lead off single from their forthcoming third album and the fact that they've been working with Run the Jewels is kind of on show here, "Million Man" is very different in sound to anything on "Hoops", that said it is still a decent song and I would give anything to see this chart highly over some of the rubbish on the ARIA Singles Chart right now. it's got a decent hook, I'll take it.

Rating: 8/10


Best of the week: The Rubens get it for "Million Man"

Worst: "Por Favor". Just not a fan of how sleazy some of the lyrics are. Sorry

Next week
A new Christiaa Aguilera song called "America"
Plenty of rumours about N.E.R.D possibly releasing a song with Rihanna.
Talk of a fourth song from Taylor Swift's new album being released (I hope not)

ARIA Top Ten/Chart review: October 31st

This week was busy...well not in the top 3 really but we'll get to that but down the lower end of the chart, there's one or two songs that look as though they could be bound for the top ten and there was one new entry that quite predictably broke into the top ten.

The only song to have left the top 10 was "What About Us?" by Pink because of course the album boost wore off a little.

As for the top 10, well "Rockstar" by Post Malone and 21 Savage remains at number one for a fifth week because sales have started to catch up to the streams a little bit.

Camila Cabello and Young Thug remain at number 2 for another week with "Havana". Now if stream can pick up a bit, there's a fair chance that this song will challenge for top spot, it looks to be well on the way to number one in the United Kingdom already.

"Perfect" by Ed Sheeran is at number three and remains a fair chance of getting to number one, it's a song that the radio seems to love at the moment for some reason.

Then we have two songs that have broken into the top 5, at number 4 is "Young, Dumb and Broke" by Khalid which climbed three places and "Feel it Still" by Portugal, The Man which rose 1 place to number 5.

Both those songs may well have gotten to the top five on the weaknesses of "Glorious" by Macklemore feat Skylar Grey dropping two places to number 6.

"Dusk til Dawn" by Zayn and Sia continues to hang around the lower half of the top 10 climbing one place to number 7.

"Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith is proving it's actually bad at saying goodbye to the top ten by jumping one place to number 8.

Which brings us to a new entry at number 9 and predictably, it's "Gorgeous" by Taylor Swift. I expect this to slide badly next week. Just a shame that the song doesn't live up to it's name.

"New Rules" by Dua Lipa continues to dangle precariously at number 10 for a second week.


Biggest gainer of the week was Niall Horan's "Slow Hands" which climbed from 50 to 34 this week off the back of the release of his album "Flicker". Amongst the other big gains was Charlie Puth's "How Long" which climbed from 40 to 27, the success of  "Rockstar" has seen Post Malone's "I Fall Apart" climb from 23 to 14.

The biggest loser was Pink's "Beautiful Trauma" which fell from 27 to 40, other big losses came for "Despacito" by Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi which fell from 32 to 39.


On the new entry front inside the top 50 beyond Taylor Swift's 'Gorgeous", "Let You Down" by NF was the best entering at number 43, "Stargazing" by Kygo feat. Justin Jesso at 49 and the best song of all the new entries in the top 50 "Lose My Mind" by Dean Lewis at 50.
New entries to the top 100, "Bedroom Floor" by Liam Payne entered at 52 (should probably break into top 50 next week but we'll see), "Bank Account" by 21 Savage enters at 62, Rita Ora's "Anywhere" debuts at number 68, "Bloodstone" by Guy Sebastian at 90, "Kids in Love" by Kygo feat. The Night Game at 94 and "Meant to be by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line at 100.

There were four drop outs with two signifcant, that being "Mama" by Jonas Blue feat. William Singe and "Fallin'" by Jessica Mauboy. "Mama" should make the year end top 100 list.
The other two being "Pray" by Sam Smith and "Let You Down" by Peking Duk and Icona Pop.

So that ends this week's ARIA top ten/chart review and wow, it will be fascinating to see if number one changes hands this week or not but before all that new music review with Selena Gomez teaming up with Marshmello, new stuff from The Rubens and Clean Bandit team up with Julia Michaels.