ARIA Top 50 Singles Top Ten/Chart Review. 4th April. Tom's Chaotic Big Energy Role Modelz

 I really don't know what to say when I open up to write about the ARIA singles chart in 2022 anymore, this week is one of the worst on the ARIA sSingles chart since I began the blog...yes, even worse than the entirety of 2018 because not only is the top ten stagnant but we've got some abssolute garbage in the new enttries.

Let's blow through the top ten which barely changed at all, "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals spent another week at number one mostly because it's still leading on streaming (I expect that to change next week...I hope)

It held up somehow over "Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran somehow still at number two ahead of "Stay" by The Kid Laroi feat. Justin Bieber stuck at number three and "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" by Elton John and Dua Lipa glued to number four.

The lone move in the top ten this week sees :"Where Are You Now" by Lost Frequencies feat Calum Scott up one place to number five, it caused "Shivers" by Ed Sheeran to move down one place to number six.

"abcdefu" by Gayle remains at number seven (honestly I am glad this didn't get to number one.. Still not a fan of the song at all)

Dave remains at number eight with "Starlight" despite strong streaming through the week...mostly because sales have really not done much for this song.

"We Don't Talk About Bruno" by The Cast of Enacanto remains at number nine and "That's What I Want" by Lil Nas X is stuck at number ten.

Gains

Not much in the way of gains this week with the biggest being for "Let's Trot!" by Brothers feat. Joel Fletcher which rose fourteen places to 26 while "She's All I Wanna Be" by Tate McRae up four spots to 27.

Re- Entries

Following the awful death of drummer Taylor Hawkins, the chart saw the return of Foo Fighters hit "Everlong" at number 28.

Losses

It was a busy week here with the biggest loser this week being "Say Nothing" by Flume feat MAY-A to 44. "Nail tech" by Jack Harlow is a bit of a non entity down twelve spots to 48. 

"Surface Pressure" By Jessica Darrow dow eight to 47 as the Encanto hype wears off. 

Unsurprisingly "Something in the Way" by Nirvana fell twelve spots to 42.and "Freaky Deaky" by Doja Cat slipped seven spots to 41 and also down twelve is "Sweetest Pie" by Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa to 36

Drop outs

"My Universe" by Coldplay feat. BTS dropped out taking with it "Infinity" by Jaymes Young, "Without Me" by Eminem, "Better Days" by NEIKED and Mae Muller (feat. Polo G) and "Love Tonight" by Shouse.

New Entries

Four new entries this week, brace yourselves because this is going to get ugly amd mpt just because we're starting with...

50. "No Role Modelz" by J Cole

Ughh. I am going to keep this short. The fact this is a new entry this week kind of grosses me out because this song is plain awful, okay, the instrumental is fine but J Cole disrespect of Martin Luther King is infuriating...dude, Martin Luther King had more important things to do, like fighting for black Americans rights, also J Cole , your claim is pretty damn shallow which is ironic considering you spend parts of the song bitching about how shallow women are...this song sucks...next!

39. "Chaotic" by Tate McRae

It's kind of surprising to me that Tate McRae is now lodging singles regularly on the singles chart with this one being a piano ballad about how this person grew up and is now wanting to make changes in their life for the better  after being hit with some worries about the future and how they'd rather not cut the problematic people out of their life because the loneliness of losing the friends as awful as they are would be a much worse feeling than continuing to keep those friends. It's a sad and really reflective song that probably could have done without the voice mods at the end of the hook and Tate McRae's vocals still don't impress me but on a week like this one...I'll take it.

35. "Big Energy" by Latto

Life, death, taxes and another female rapper trying to knock off Doja Cat.which isn't a surprise when you realize both Latto and Doja Cat are connected via being produced bgy Dr Luke with this song sampling Tom Tom Club's 1981 song "Genius of Love" along with an interpolation of Mariah Carey's 1995 smash "Fantasy" and really this doesn't impress me at all especially when this song just feels like another generic song in the same vein as others that do this sort of pop/rap sound better. Also I'm not buying the lyrics at all which make this song sound like a stereotypical sex rap that isn't anywhere near as sexy as it thinks it is so yeah not a fan.

18. "Tom's Diner" by AnnenMayKantereut & Giant Rooks

Ugh..feels like I am doing an upside of "Lookin' fine '89" (granted that has been a lot more interesting than the current charts lately) amd for our final new entry of the week, we have two German groups atttempting to cover a classic Suzanne Vega song that was released as a sinlg in 1987 before before becoming a wider hit in 1990 thanks to a remix by DNA which brings us to this cover and dear god this not good the 'do do dos" sound like drunk frat guys who are struggling to remember to anything other than that and the singing on the rest of the song makes :Beggin'" by Maneskin sound like a flock of angels descended from heaven so yeah this is absolute garbage as well.

It's also the worst of the week just edging out "no Role Modelz" by J Cole. "Chaotic" by Tate McRae while flawed takes the best of the week easily.

Next week, likely Harry Styles will make a big play for the number one and we'll probably get new entries from Shawn Mendes, Lil Tjay and Dean Lewis...surely some of those have to better than the crap we got this week, find out on Friday at 5pm when ARIA updates the charts.

Lookin' Fine '89. 2nd April. Now She Drives Me Crazy at number one In Heaven

 Well this is an interesting development because it now has emerged we have got a serious battle for number one on the chart and it's the most interesting thing on an otherwise pretty quiet week so let's start with the top ten where "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals has taken the number one thanks to outrageous sales momentum that it's pretty much carried for most of it's run on the chart so far.

This meant "Like A Prayer" by Madonna got pushed back to number two but remains a strong player to re take the number one sspot which "She Drives Me Crazy" show any kind of weakness at all.

Then there's "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers sticks around at number three and "Tuckers Daughter" by Ian Moss hangs on for another week at number four.

Rising one place to number five is "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics....nice to see however up two places to number six is "I'm On My Way" by The Proclaimers which I am not so thrilled about but anyway...

All of this caused 'You Got It" by Roy Orbison to slide down two places to number seven while "Too Many Broken Hearts" by Jason Donovan fell one place to number eight.

"Soul Revival" by Johnny Diesel & The Injectors climbed one to number nine on the back of a sales boost while making it's first appearance in the top ten this week is "Stop" by Sam Brown which jumped seven places to get here.

Gains

So let's look outside the top ten, there was a five place gain for Daryl Braithwate's "One Summer" to 18 and a seven place gain to 21 for "Buffalo Stance" by Neneh Cherry. Both of which I am pretty happy about.

But I would question why "So Good" by Wa Wa Nee got a five place push to 29...it's not a particularly good song. 

The sappy "Lost In Your Eyes" by Debbie Gibson is up seven to 40. I kind of expect this song to be a hit here for some reason.

Re Entries 

Two returns this week with "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" by Poison back at 42 and "Love Bites" by Def Leppard returning at 44.

Losses

"The Music Goes Round My Head" by The Saints fell ten to 50 while "Fine Time" by New Order slipped from 41 to 49. 

"Two Hearts" by Phil Collins is experiencing heartbreak as it tumbled from 33 to 41.

New Entries

Just the one new entry this week, let's talk about...

43. "Now You're In Heaven" by Julian Lennon

The lead single from Julian Lennon's third album "Mr. Jordan" and well, this actually a really fun song! I love how the drums get the song before the guitars make their way in and yeah it sounds like a song INXS could have made. As for the lyrics, it's basically Julian Lennon wanting to hook up with this girl and make her happy, it definitely makes ful use of it's run time and doesn't feel like a slog to listen to. Good job from Julian Lennon. 

ARIA Singles Top 50 Top Ten. 28th March Let's Maybe Trot

 So full confession, this would have been done sooner had the charrt been interesting this week...well okay maybe the top half is still incredibly dull but at least we did get a new song in the top ten...it's not a good song but still it's a change to the top ten so let's dive straight in where for a tenth week "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals rules the chart.but it's starting to waver a bit particularly on streaming, it's really waiting for something to be strong enough to knock it off.

"Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran returns to number twi likely off the back of a boost following the Australian tour announcement as I don't see this lasting which means there's every possibility that "Stay" by The Kid Laroi feat.Justin Bieber rebounds to number two next week after it got pushed back to number three this week.

Same goes for "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" by Elton John and Dua Lipa which slipped one to number four. 

Then there's "Shovers" by Ed Sheeran which basically got the boost that "Bad Habits" did as it rose two spots to number five.

It was enough to push down the song that's performing well on sales which is "Where Are You Now" by Lost Frequencies feat. Calum Scott back to number six, Mostly because it's performance on Spotify is not matching that of songs of above it. 

This is also the case for "abcdefu" by Gayle which is .losing strength right across the board, it's probably a song that is weak rnough to exit the top ten in the weeks ahead.

At number eight is "Starlight" by Dave having climbed three spots to seal Dave's first top ten hit in Australia.

It pushed "We Don't Talk About Bruno" by The Cast of Encanto and "That's What I Want" by Lil Nas X back to nine and ten respectively.

Gains

A slew of songs rose two or three places this week, the only song to have a major gain this week was "Say Nothing" by Flume feat.MAY-A which jumped eleven places to 29 but that was about it this week.

Re-Entries

Two returns with one of those being "My Universe" by Coldplay feat. BTS at number 44 while "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran returns at 47 mostly again due to tour announcement.but yeah I do think it's beyond time for recurrency rules on the ARIA singles chart.

Losers

Most of the losers are a case of continued losses with "Surface Pressure" by Jessica Darrow down nine to 39.

"Nail Tech" by Jack Harlow down five to 37 however "Something in the Way" by Nirvana slipped eight places off it's debut to number 30 and Dove Cameron's "Boyfriend took a five place slide to number 25.

Drop Outs.

Four songs fell out this week with the only one I'm disappointed about being "Edamame" by bbno$ and Rich Brian...that song is just plain stupid fun so I'm sad it's gone.

Gowever it took "I'm Tired" by Labrinth and Zendaya, "Missing Piece" by Vance Joy and "To The Moon" by Jnr Choi and I ain't complaining about losing those!

New Entries

40. "Let's Trot!" by Brothers feat. Joel Fletcher

Well this is going to take some explaining...Brothers are a rap duo hailing from Western Sydney, they've teamed up with Joel Fletcher who was last on the charts in 2013 alongside Seany B with a song called "Loco" so I was a bit concerned going into this song and it turns out my concerns were justified because oh man, this song isn't any good. The rap flow is weak and the bars are a homogenous mix of sports references before this squealing annoying breakdown interpersed with "let's fucking trot"

If this is what drill in Australia plans to sound like then fuck it, maybe we were better off with "Body" after all

38. "Maybe" by Machine Gun Kelly feat. Bring Me the Horizon.

So Machine Gun Kelly released "Mainstream Sellout" on Friday and I'll say it now...it's a mess of an album but luckily we did get one of the better songs from it on the singles chart this week with the song dipping into the darkness that seems to embody a lot of the album as MGK and BMTH frontman Oli Sykes contemplate letting this other person go over roaring guitars and Sykes actually screaming during the middle section of the song. All up, I don't mind this.

And really it's the best of the week with "Let's Trot" by Brothers feat. Joel Fletcher taking the worst.

Next week could be a quiet one so we'll have to see when the chart updates on Friday at 5pm AEDST

Lookin' Fine '89. 26th March: Too Many Ring My Bell Lost and Celebrate The Broken Hearts World

 Well, this feels like a pretty significant week even if the changes were somewhat expected so let's dive straight into the top ten where as expected "Like a Prayer" by Madonna took the number one spot, I'd say it's mostly because of the attention that's been on the song due to the religious controversy around the music video but sales for this song have been excellent.

We also have a new number two with "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals rising to be the closxest threat to Madonna but I am wondering if sales have peaked for this song.

All of this pushed last week's number one "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers back two places to number three as sales fell hard and couldn't compete with the top two. As I expected, sales are falling away for "Tucker's Daughter" by Ian Moss back two number four.

Surprisingly holding steady is "You Go It" by Roy Orbison while "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics rose one to number six.

Then we have a new entry at number seven, it comes courtesy of "Too Many Broken Hearts" by Jason Donovan, I'll have more to say about the quality of the song later but solid sales propelled this song to debut in the top ten....I'm not sure that's a good thing by the way...

Then we have the second top ten entry for The Proclaimers as "I'm On My Way" climbed from 16 to reach number eight likely because of how well "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" has been doing which raised some public curiosity about the new song.

Falling three places is "Teardrops" by Womack & Womack to number nine while "Soul Revival" by Johnny Diesel & The Injectors suffered the biggest fall of any song in the top ten this week down four places to number ten.

Gains

The big story this week is that "Stop" by Sam Brown broke into the top twenty by climbing four places to 17...jooyy.

In much better news "Chained to the Wheel" by The Black Sorrows climbed ten places to 27. I'm happy about that while "Cumb Things" by Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls rose from 42 to 36 and "voice of Reason" by Noise Works jumped from 50 to 43. 

Losers

New Order's "Fine Time" is having a rough time on the chart as it tumbled eight spots to 41. Phil Collins "Two Hearts" is finally on it's way out as it tumbled from 20 to 33 this week.

Finally falling out of the top ten is "Kikomo" by The Beach Boys which fell from 8 to 15...I ain't complaining about that!

New Entries

50. "Over Tomorrow" by Pseudo Echo

So this is the second single from Pseudo Echo's second album "Race" and man, this song feels like it's trying to be a combination of Bon Jovi, INXS and the hair metal rock craze in the instrumentation and it doesn't really work here especially as lead vocallist Brian Canham sounds buried under the guitars here. I would also question what the song going for because by about the middle of the song it sounds like a ballad! Either way, it's pretty generic stuff that I am not going to remember down the track. I'm moving on...

47. "Lost In Your Eyes" by Debbie Gibson

So here we have the lead single for American singer/songwriter Debbie Gibson ahead of her new album "Electric Youth"  and while lyrically it's your pretty standard love song, I do like it does not just stick to being a piano ballad by introducing a guitar on the second verse which made the song somewhat interesting even if there's something weirdly dispassionate about Debbie Gibson's delivery. Look, I'll take this...even if it's just for now., it's okay.

46. "Celebrate The World" by Womack & Womack

Ooh this is the follow up single I have been waiting for for awhile, There's not that much info out there about this song which is a bit of a shame because it's a pretty good song even if the chorus sounds a bit repetitive lyrically but it's a cute song aimed at celebrating people's differences and how the world can be in harmony in spite of the differences people have. It's not quite as sharply written as "Teardrops" but it goes down smooth so yeah, I'll take it!

45. "So Good" by Wa Wa Nee

So a new single from Wa Wa Nee as the follow up to 1988's "Can't Control Myself" and comes from the album called "Blush" and yeah "So Good" is a very Wa Wa Nee sounding song even if the sound has matured more from 1986's "Stimulation" but wow that introduction is long for a song that is basically about this girl looking 'so good' and when the vocals sound oddly weedy...yeah I am not a fan of this at all. 

39. "Ring My Bell" by Collette

And here's your regularly scheduled cover for the week...this time it's New Zealand born, Australia based singer Collette covering Anita Ward's 1979 disco classic which peaked at number three on Australia's Kent Music Report charts and dear god, this is by any standard of music,,,a mess, I may not like the original all that much but why does Collete's version feature what sounds a like woman grunting in the background with only what can be described as a very generic eighties dance beat over it, this is the sort of cover that leaves somebody reaching for the headache relief...ugh.

7. "Too Many Broken Hearts" by Jason Donovan

A new single from Jason Donovan, it being the third from "Ten Good Reasons" and yeah this one is a fairly  cut and paste Stock, Aitken and Waterman song in that Rick Astley or any other male star on that label could have recorded the song. It's all about how this girl wants to finish this relationship and leave but Donovan doesn't want her to leave and vows to continue to fight for her to stay because there's  already "too many broken hearts in the world", dude, if she wants to leave let her, don't let yourself get painted into being an abusive asshole so yeah this isn't all that good....

That wraps up a pretty underwhelming week with the worst going to "Ring My Bell" by Collette for being the worst kind of noise to be called 'music'.

The best...tough call...but it's going to "Celebrate The World" by Womack and Womack because the song works more often than not.

ARIA Singles top 50 Top Ten/ Chart Review: 21st March. Sweetest Pie in the Way

 Can I just go back to 1989? Seriously "Lookin' Fine '89" is more interesting then the current day ARIA singles chart, take for example the top ten where for yet another week, "Heatwaves" by Glass Animals remains at number one however there are signs that this could change as it's not completely dominant on sales, streaming or Youtube, it's more likely that Spotify streaming is keeping it at number one.

And from there the top four also remained the same with "Stay" by The Kid Laroi feat. Justin Bieber at number two, "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" at number three and "Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran at number four

Then there's the next likely number one "Where are You Now" by Lost Frequencies and Calum Scott up one place to number five as it leads on sales, is doing well on streaming, I suspect this might challenge for number one soon enough.

It pushed "abcdefu" by Gayle back to number six while "Shivers" held steady at number seven while "We Don't Talk About Bruno" by The Cast of Encanto remains at number eight,

Then we've the two Lil Nas X songs with "That's What I Want" up one place to number nine, it effectively swapped with "Industry Baby" feat Jack Harlow which slipped back to number ten and looks like it might be gone next week

Gains

The biggest gain by far this week is "Starlight" by Dave which climbed twenty four places to number eleven this week and looks like it might well leap into the top ten with the momentum it has on streaming.

"Boyfriend" by Dove Cameron broke into the top twenty up three places to number twenty while "Following the Sun" by SUPER-Hi featuring Neeka rose four places to 23.

Re-Entries

The one re entry that does prove how stale the chart is right now is that of "Love Tonight" by Shouse which come back in at number 47.

Losses

Not really complaining about most of the major ones here when it's considered "To The Moon" by Jnr Choi down eleven to 50 or "I'm Tired" by Labrinth down seventeen to 38...both songs aren't good.

"Surface Pressure" by Jessica Darrow down eight to 30.

Drop Outs

Our drop outs really aren't that much to complain about either,...I mean when "Pushin' P" by Gunna and Future feat. Young Thug is gone...I'm not about to complain, it did take "The Family Madrigal" by The Cast of Encanto with it. 

The only drop out I am sort of upset about is "My Universe" by Coldplay feat. BTS...I can only hope that it's done enough now to make the the year end for 2022.

New Entries

Just the two new entries this week, startung with...

27. "Sweetest Pie" by Megan Thee Stallion feat. Dua Lipa

Ohh I was so looking forward to hearing this collab the moment that it was announced that Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa would be collaborating and well the result of their collaboration is "Sweetest Pie" and...it's exactly what you'd expect a collab between Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa to sound like as the song does sound like something straight off "Future Nostalgia" and Megan's verses are basically hot girl shit and really not anything that we haven't heard from her before. All up the song is a bit lame but for what it is...I'll take it. 

22. "Something in the Way" by Nirvana

This was something of a surprise for me as after covering 1992, I didn't expect to be covering Nirvana again but as it turns out it's on the soundtrack of the new "The Batman" and look I get why it has been included in the film, it does sound like a song for the new It's also a short song with it being the same verse and chorus repeated with the song apparently about Kurt Cobain living under a bridge after being kicked out of home. it's actually a pretty chilling song, recommend giving it a listen.

It's also the best of the week. No worst this week as "Sweetest Pie" is a bit lame but it's not that bad. Next week hopefully some big changes to the top ten to break up the monotony, the chart updates at 5pm AEDST on Friday

Lookin' Fine '89. 19th March: Love Train Got A Hold Of My Prayer Chained To The Wheel

Ahh remember when I said last week that there was going to be a disruption to the top ten...well that disruption happened and it looks like being the most significant challenge our number one has faced for awhile so let's get right into it because for another week, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Prcolaimers spends another week at number one, it's still mostly pretty strong but it's going to need to be to withstand the challenger coming in the next few weeks.

That challenger is not going to be "Tucker's Daughter" by Ian Moss as it's starting to show signs of weakness and is coming under severe pressure from stronger songs below it. 

This brings us to our highest new entry of the week and the most likely challenger to our current number one "Like A Prayer" by Madonna, we'll talk about the song's quality later but it's here thanks to good sales that will only get better with the controversy around the music video. 

"She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals rose one spot to number four this week, it's momentum has kind of stalled a bit but all this was enough to push both "You Got It" by Roy Orbison back to number five and "Teardrops" by Womack & Womack back to number six.

Now I'm happy to see a new arrival in the top ten with "The Living Years" by Mike + the Mechanics rising five places to number seven this week! Awesome stuff.

It pushed the naturally fading "Kokomo" back one place to number eight for the Beach Boys. The sooner this song is gone the better.

Also rising into the top ten this week (the top ten actually almost awesome!) is "Soukl Revival" by Johnny Diesel and the Injectors which climbed two spots to number nine.

Finally falling two places os "Kiss" by The Art of Noise feat. Tom Jones to number ten.

Gains

Wll the gains outside the top ten are an interesting and kind of mixed in terms of quality bunch because on the one hand you have "Belfast Child" by Simple Minds rising ten places to number 12, "End of the Line" by Traveling Wilburys rising five places to number 13 and "You'll Never Know" by 1927 leaping up twelve places to 15 but on the other you have "I'm On My Way" by The Proclaimers rising tweny slots to 16. "Stop!" by Sam Brown up seven to 21 and more infuriatingly, "Your Mama Don'y Dance" by Poison up from 42 to 29 this week.

Losers

Pleased to see "I Want Your Love" by Transvision Vamp down ten places to 47...that song has just gotten painful to listen to in recent months. 

Not a good week for Robert Palmer as "Early in the Morning" slimped twelve places to 46 and "She Makes My Day" down from 14 to 27. 

On the way out is "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" by Poison because that plunged eleven spots to 43 while "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle dropped from 35 to 41.

'Bring Me Some Water" by Melissa Etheridge slipped five places to 38 and "Love Bites" by Def Leppard copped a six place hit to 36. There was a nine place fall for New Order with "Fine Time"...a song that seems to be fizzling out.

Former top ten hits also took falls this week with "Especially for You" by Kylie Mimogue and Jason Donovan slipping from 17 to 30. "Handle With Care" by The Traveling Wilburys taking a hard hit down from number nine to 25 (ouch!) , "Rock And Roll Music" by Mental As Anything slipped six places to 19 and "Orinoco Flow" by Enya fell five to number eleven ending it's way too god damn long tenure at number six (I was beginning to think the flow had rented the number six slot).

New Entries

Four new entries this week beginning with...

39. "Love Train" by Holly Johnson

So this song comes from English singer Holly Johnson and comes from his debut album "Blast" so how's the song? It's a pretty enetgetic, bouncy pop song that really does soak in a lot of the late 80s pop music tropes and even if the lyrics are pretty cliche, this is still a lot of fun. Holly sounds really damn good and that guitar solo works well for what it is even if it doesn't really fit with the rest of the song...I liked this more than I expected. Check it out

37. "Chained to the Wheel" by The Black Sorrows.

About time we got a new single from The Black Sorrows with this being the third single from their fifth studiio album "Hold On To Me" and what's even better is that this song is AWESOME. Joe Camilleri trades verses with Vika and Linda Bull before the songs bursts into a hook that is just a massive sing a long about doing it tough and knowing what you want enough to make ends meet and feed the family and oh that guitar riff is fucking iconic. Great song!

34. "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart" by Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney

And now for your regularly scheduled charting cover song this week coming from English singer-writer Marc Almond who recorded a version of "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart" alongside Gene Pitney, the man who recorded the song in 1967 and sadly this song really doesn't do much for me especially as the vocals feel somewhat buried in the orchestral priduction and the song feels like it should be apart of a musical theatre production...yeah no, this one kind of bored me...not completely bad but it's not a song I'll go back to. 

3. "Like a Prayer" by Madonna

Well, here we have the lead single from Madonna for her album "Like A Prayer" and let's just skip past the video controversy because we know Madonna's team is fantastic at whipping up controversys for those who get their knickers too easily into a twist, let's get right to the music because "Like A Prayer" is a damn fantastic pop song with how airy and open the song is with a gospel choir adding an incredible element to the end of the song on the hook as Madonna sings about this young girl who is so in love with God or the idea of a God to the point where she believes this God to be the pre eminent male figure in her life this the relationship between this girl and God.-Now while I am agnostic, I do understand what Madonna is trying to do with this song and it winds up being pretty damn great. Check it out.

And that ends a great week to the point where I'm not having a worst of the week this week but giving a tie for the best of the week between "Like a Prayer" by Madonna and "Chained to The Wheel" by The Black Sorrows.

ARIA Top 50 Top Ten/Chart Review: 14th March. Bam Bam is Freaky Deaky in MIddle Of The Night

 So this week might just be the busiest for awhile, we got a slew of new rntries to the chart and some big moves but all of that happened outside our top ten...sigh...let's deal with the incredibly uniteresting top ten because still at number one is "Heatwaves" by Glass Animals thanks to streaming which is the only thing holding this song up right now.

The exact same can be said for "Stay" by The Kid Laroi feat. Justin Bieber which remained at number two, it's continuing to refuse to go away on streaming unfortunately.

Rebounding one place to number three is "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" by Elton John and Dua Lipa which has sales and streaming plus some Youtube because of course it did...I am so tired of this song.

It pushed past "Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran which slipped to number four because it's not got any sales but it does have streaming and a little Youtube but that's about it.

Steady at number five is "abcdefu" by Gayle with whatecver streaming it has left, it's still good on sales. Also steady is "Where Are You Now" by Lost Frequenicies feat. Calum Scott at number six mostly because it seems like while sales are doing well, its stalled on streaming and Youtube isn't giving the song much assistance.

Ed Sheeran's second song in the top ten, "Shivers" mioved up one place to number seven thanks to a streaming push which is odd but it did push back "We Don't Talk About Bruno" by The Cast of Encanto back to number eight (nobody talks about how increasingly annoying this song has become) mostly because the big push for it on streaming hasn't come and I get the feeling people are moving on from Encanto as it is. 

"Industry Baby" by Lil Nas X feat. Jack Harlow moved up one place to number nine but that might be because "That's What I Want" by Lil Nas X lost hard this week on streaming and as a result slipped to number ten.

Gains

There's not a lot in the way of gains here but "Numb Little Bug" by Em Beihold rose three places to number 33 while "Light Switch" by Charlie Puth rebounded five places to number 34 but that's about it.

Losers

Well because we got quite a lot of new entries this week, there were plenty of losers with the biggest being "Pushin' P" by Gunna and Future feat. Young Thug, "Missing Piece" by Vance Joy slumped eleven places to 41. 

"The Family Madrigal" by The Cast of Encanto fell nine places to 50 while "Happier Thna Ever" by Billie Eilish tumbled eight to 45, "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac slipped six to 44 and most sadly, "Edamame" by bbno$ fell nine to 43.

"One Right Now" by Post Malone and The Weeknd slid seven places to 42 while "To The Moon" by Jnr Choi slipped seven to 39.

The underwhelming "Say Nothing" by Flume feat. MAY-A collapsed nine places to 37 while "She's All I Wanna Be" by Tate McRae slumped nine to 32.

Drop Outs

So the big ones this week are "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo, "Need to Know" by Doja Cat (good) and "On My Knees" by Rufus Du Sol

Also gone are the short lived "Oh My God" by Adele and "The Joker and The Queen" by Ed Sheeran feat Taylor Swift.

Taking their exits as well are "We Run The Night" by Havana Brown and "All For Us" by Labrinth and Zendaya

New Entries

So after a heap of slow weeks to start the year, we have SEVEN new entries, let's start with..

48. "Infinity" by Jaymes Young

So we're starting with this first timer...an American singer/songwriter who has toured with Vance Joy with this song being his first to hit the ARIA singles chart and well, it's not all that good apart from the vocal production sounding like complete ass, Jaymes Young sounding like he cannot pronounce the word 'infinity' to save himself and the song is the done to death cliche of loving another person forever over this hollow sounding beat...yeah I ain't a fan of this...NEXT!

35. "Starlight" by Dave

Okay so next up is UK rapper Dave, this being his latest single that debuted at number one in the UK and I got to be honest here but I'm not feeling this at all especially that sample which sounds closer to a cat yowling in the middle of the night and when the content is mostly bragging about women and his lifestyle in London...yeah I think I'll move on because I don't see this sticking around.

31. "Middle of the Night" by Elley Duhey

Okay so this is something of a surprise, you might remember Elley Duhey for her 2017 song "Happy Now" that she recorded with Zedd and was a pretty good song that peaked at number 27 in Australia, well in 2022, she's returned on her own with a new single and well, I'll give the song credit as it really does sound like it's in the middle of the night and there's enough atmosphere to make the song sound kind of spooky even if I don't think it works well with Elley Duhey's voice which is very similar to that of Ellie Goulding either way it's probably well worth checking out. 

29. "Freaky Deaky" by Tyga and Doja Cat

Did anyone really want this? Well they did given it  wound up on the charts this week so we've got Tyga and Doja Cat together here and for one thing, Doja Cat actually works well on the song and probably should have been her song alone because she works nicely over that guitar although I do have to ask why they included the snaps overt the latter part of Doja's hook but it's some of the cringeworthy bars from Tuga "Body like December, ass like summer time" and "Let me slide it in, Wayne Gretzky"...geezus. It's not completely cringe but this could have been a really great Doja Cat song...as it is? It's okay but it's not anything I'll come back to.

27. "Following The Sun" by SUPER-Hi feat. Neeka

Alright so this is a song that was released in 2020b and up until now has only charted in Germany, Austria and New Zealand so now that it looks like being a hit in Australia, how is the song? You know, I actually think this is pretty good! It's a warm summer song with guitars that are bright and really feel warm with Neeka bringing a somewhat blissed out summer tone with her vocals. It's definitely a song to get lost in the hear of summer too and as a result, I actually like this more than I thought I would. Check it out it.

21. "I'm Tired" by Labrinth and Zendaya

Our second song connected with the TV show "Euphoria" in as many weeks so I am hoping this one is better than last week's effort...welll sadly this song kind of falls into the oppsite end of the spectrum of being a slow somewhat limp ballad that really isn't all that interesting and doesn't match any of the teenage angst of the actual show not to mention, I am not convinced that Labrinth and Zendaya have all that much chemistry on the song so yeah I ain't feeling this one

19. "Bam Bam" by Camila Cabello feat. Ed Sheeran

I was pretty disappointed that "Don't Go Yet" wasn't a hit in 2021, it was one of Camila's better songs since "Havana" and kind of deserved to be absolutely huge but regardless here's the latest single from "Familia" bringing along a feature from Ed Sheeran for added appeal (even if I think Ed Sheeran's appeal is waning a bit right now) and well, it turns out that this song is really good! It's got a really solid latin pop flavour that's consistent through out the song and finally Camila's got some production that supports her more limited delivery to the poujt she really sounds good here. The song may allude to her relationship break up with fellow singer Shawn Mendes but regardless I enjoyed this song a lot even if Ed does feel kind of superfluous on the song. 

"Bam Bam"  is also the best of the week with honourable mention going to "Following the Sun" by SUPER-Hi feat. Neeka.

As for the worst, well that falls out easily with "Infinity" by James Young getting that with dishnourable mention going to "I'm Tired" by Labrinth and Zendaya.

Next week..should see that collab between Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa enter along with good knows what else when the chart updates at 5pm AEDST on Friday.