ARIA top ten Chart/review: December 25

As we wind down to the end of the year the chart continues to slow down which couldn't be more true of this week's ARIA chart with only one new entry and two re-entries. The only song to leave the top 10 is "Young, Dumb and Broke" by Khalid which slipped down to number 13.

Remaining at number 1 is "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran and it's various remixes. I don't see this being knocked off number one any time soon.

Then we get to the lone new entry for the week at number 2 with "River" by Eminem feat. Ed Sheeran largely off the back of large radio airplay and the release of Eminem's album "Revival"

That means that "Havana" by Camilla Cabello feat. Young Thug got bumped back number 3, I suspect this song may start to slide hard in the weeks ahead.

"I Fall Apart" by Post Malone remains at four but its overtaken "Rockstar" by Post Malone and 31 Savage which slipped 2 places to number 5.

"Meant to Be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line remains at number 6.

"Silence" by Marshmello and Khalid slipped 2 places to number 7.

NF's "Let You Down" dropped one place to number 8 while Marshmello's other song inside the top 10 "Wolves" with Selena Gomez dropped one place to number 9.

Portugal, the Man remain steady with "Feel it, Still" rounding out the top 10 at number 10.


Outside of the top 10, the biggest gainer of the week was "Dirty Sexy Money" by David Guetta, Afrojack, Charli XCX and French Montana which jumped 10 places to 23. Other songs that jumped up the chart were the forgettable "Him & I" by G-Eazy feat. Halsey to number 16, "Go Bang" by PNAU continues to go bang jumping from 21 to 17, in more good news for Australian acts Sheppard rose following their top 50 debut last week to move into the top 40 at number 33 with "Coming Home" (That song is fantastic, if you haven't checked it out, what are you waiting for?) and "All I want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey climbing to the edge of the top 10 at number 11 (That song should decline soon given Christmas is virtually over)

As for the biggest loser of the week, I took great delight in seeing the 10 place fall of the abominable "Gucci Gang" by Lil Pump which dropped to 32 but apart from that there were no real major losers. The chart seems to try to begin the process of flushing the hits of 2017 out of the chart.

I mentioned the one lone new entry to the top 50, all of the new entries to the top 100 were Eminem album tracks which I won't go through here.

Speaking of Eminem, "Walk on Water" with Beyonce re-entered at number 44 while the onset of Christmas saw "Last Christmas" by Wham re-enter at number 36.

So that rounds up the top ten/Chart review for this week. Seems fairly likely "Perfect" will remain number one but with radio loving "River" who knows?

ARIA Chart top ten/Review: December 18th

So little happened this week that I was wondering if I should even bother with this this week but then I saw we had interesting things happen lower down the chart including the arrival of a fantastic song by an Australian band on the chart.

The one song to leave the top 10 was "What Lovers Do" by Maroon 5 and SZA (good, not a fan of it at all. It's not the worst Maroon 5 song by any stretch but still it's not good)

For a second week "Perfect" and it's various remixes by Ed Sheeran featuring Beyonce and Andrea Boccelli remains at number one and right now I think it's pretty much a lock to hold number one over the Christmas/New Year period.

Former chart toppers "Havana" by Camila Cabello remains at number 2 and "Rockstar" by Post Malone and 21 Savage (although I note that "Rockstar" recently got a Spanish remix which features Nicky Jam).

"I Fall Apart" by Post Malone stays at number 4 while "Silence" by Marshmello and Khalid spends another week at number 5

"Meant to be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line jumped two places to number six. There's real potential for this song to bust open the top 5 here which while the song isn't all that good, it'd be nice because that top 5 has felt stagnant lately.

"Let You Down" by NF remains at number 7 for a second week,

"Wolves" by Marshmello and Selena Gomez pretty much swapped with "Meant to be" by falling two places to number 8.

"Young, Dumb and Broke" by Khalid remains at number 9.

Returning to the top 10 with four place climb is "Feel It Still" by Portugal, The Man at number 10.

The biggest gainer this week was "Him & I" by G-Eazy and Halsey which jumped from 37 to 25...quite why I don't know.

In good Australian music news, Pnau had a jump of ten places to number 21 with "Go Bang" meanwhile former number 1 "Shape Of You" continues to climb back up the chart, it's at number 22. Big Shaq's "Man Not Hot" jumped from 33 to 28 while for some unexplained reason "Humble" by Kendrick Lamar leaped from 46 to 37 (it's a good song but really?).

A lot of songs took falls this week with "Mi Gente" by J. Balvin and Willy William slipping from 40 to 49 (Good, the sooner that song is gone the better). Songs like "Glorious" by Macklemore and Skylar Grey at 27, "I Like Me Better" by Lauv at 26, the "Homemade Dynamite" remix by Lorde, Khalid, SZA and Post Malone at 30 all took 4 place drops.

As for the drop outs, bit disappointed to be losing "Walk on Water" by Eminem feat. Beyonce and "Lay It On Me" by Vance Joy but I guess if they are taking "Bad at Love" by Halsey with them, it kind makes it okay...I guess.

So what replaced them? The highest new entry to the top 50 this week was the piano ballad "You are the reason" by Calum Scott at number 36 and in news I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, Aussie band Sheppard have another hit on the ARIA chart with "Coming Home" at number 43 (seriously Austrtalia, stream or buy or watch the video, we need this to do well).

Outside of the top 50? Well...Camila Cabello's new single "Never Be the Same" arrived at number 52 while Morgan Evans song about marriage "I Do" entered at 72.

The news wasn't as good on the re-entries because the lone re-entry to the top 50 was Taylor Swift's "...Ready for It?" most probably due to a remix of the song with BloodPop.

Re-entries outside of the top 50 were "Last Christmas" by Wham at 55 (unsurprisingly) and "Chameleon" by Pnau at 95.


Now I am going leave you with a hit pick from the United States Billboard Hot 100, it only entered the chart there last week but this song deserves your attention. Former American Idol winner Scotty McCreery has released a new single called "Five More Minutes" and it is absolutely stunning, we need to make this song a hit in Australia, please? If we can make the absolute worst of country music (Hi Sam Hunt) a hit, we can also make one of best country songs hit too.

New Music Friday Review: Camila Cabello, Augie March and...Mariana's Trench?

So we actually got some pretty good quality this New Music Friday, Camila Cabello released two new songs from her forthcoming album released on January 12 while Augie March return and it really is time for everybody in Australia to stop sleeping on Canadian pop punk band Mariana's Trench.


Song: Never Be the Same
Artist: Camilla Cabello




This song is apparently the follow up single to "Havana" but gee I wish I liked this more. The rattling percussion and the static like buzz hat under pin the melody in the verses before Camila pulls out her best Kate Bush impression in the pre chorus and chorus. Not a fan at all, it's not the worst but it's not something I'm keen on coming back to.

Rating: 5/10


Song: Real Friends
Artist: Camila Cabello




The better of the two songs Camila released because this track is largely rooted in guitar and it just works for Camila's vocals and quite honestly it's a song that connects more for me that Never Be The Same at least for me with Cabello on the search for 'real friends' that she can talk random stuff with. This is a nice song and I really wish this had been the single!


Rating: 7/10


Song: Bootikin
Artist: Augie March


I feel guilty that I don't push near enough Australian music so when Augie March dropped the title track from their forth coming album I was not going to miss the opportunity because as usual Augie March have released a great song that is in part dramatic and speaks to elements of the modern world. This is just a great rock song, I haven't ever really been into Augie March but this song may well just change all that.

Rating: 9/10


Song: Rhythm of Your Heart
Artist: Mariana's Trench




Mariana's Trench are a Canadian pop punk band who for some inexplicable reason have only ever experienced success in their homeland and not ever in the United States or anywhere else for some reason. (Check out their 2015 album Astoria, you will not regret it for one second).

Their newest song "Rhythm of Your Heart" which isn't on Astoria is a very eighties sounding affair with Josh Ramsay (the lead vocallist and main songwriter) sounding like he is in love but knows it's probably not a good idea, this song should be a hit around the but given the fact it feels like their management isn't keen to promote them around the world....sigh.

Rating: 8/10


Best of the week: "Bootikins" by Augie March is getting it this week no questions asked. Awesome song. If people believe in good Australian rock music then they will buy this as it deserves to be a hit


Worst: "Untouchable" by Eminem. Sadly this isn't Em's best work. Feels like he is trying way too hard to be like the young guys in the rap game right now.


New Music Friday next week

Tomorrow is the final major album release day really before everything slows down for the Christmas break. Expect new albums from Eminem and G-Eazy plus a new EP from Charli XCX.

ARIA Top Ten/ Chart Review: 11th December: New number one as two songs crash into top 10

This week saw plenty happen, not only do we have a new number one but we also have two songs crash into the top 10 with at least one looking likely to be a shot at climbing even higher so this week wasn't all bad and we had some new entries to boot including a song from an artist running hot right now.

The top ten lost "New Rules" by Dua Lipa which slipped to number 13 and 'Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith dropped to number 11.

So what's the new number one? Unfortunately it's the horribly bland and sappy "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran (Beyonce won't be credited on the track until next week) but there's no doubt that Beyonce appearing on a remixed version of the track helped push it to number one. It also comes as we learn that Sheeran is planning on a third remix of the song with Andrea Boccelli as if we actually wanted an even more sappy version of the track.

"Havana" by Camila Cabello slipped back to number two and given she has begun promoting her new single "Never Be the Same", I can't see this returning to number one especially when you consider what has momentum behind it.

The same applies for Post Malone and 21 Savage's 'rockstar" which slipped to number 3 and also Post Malone's "I Fall Apart" at number 4. These two songs have most likely peaked and while they may hang onto their position next week given streaming for both songs is pretty impressive.

Marshmello and Khalid arrive in the top 5 with "Silence, it climbs past Marshmello's hit with Selena Gomez "Wolves" at number 6.

I called it on Twitter last week, NF climbed into the top ten this week with "Let You Down" jumping four places to number seven.

What I didn't call was the surprise at number 8 with "Meant to be" by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line being the biggest climber of the week by jumping from 26 to 8. It's the first top ten hit in Australia for either artist.

Then we have two songs that are pretty much on their way out anyway, Khalid's "Young, Dumb and Broke" dropping two places to number 9 and "What Lovers do" by Maroon 5 and SZA dropping two places to round out the top ten at number 10.


So what else was a big mover up apart from "Meant to be"? Oddly enough, a past number one "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran jumped from 32 to 25 but that could be because of the current number one, "I Miss You" by Clean Bandit and Julia Michaels jumped from 46 to 28, "Go Bang" by PNAU jumped from 42 to 31 (Go Aussies!) but apart from those, no real major gainers this week.

As for a top ten entry prediction, look for "Let Me go" by Hailee Steinfeld feat. Alesso and Watt to enter the top ten soon.


As for the biggest fallers, that honour falls to Pink this week with her former chart topper "What About Us" dropping to 43 from 28 last week, it wasn't a good week for Pink at all even though her album returned to number one on the album charts with the title track "Beautiful Trauma" dropping from 25 to 36. "Mi Gente" by J Balvin and Willy William dropped from 33 to 40, "Walk on Water" by Eminem and Beyonce continues to under perform dropping to 38 from 24


There was one re-entry and surprisingly quite high up, it's also one of the worst Christmas songs known to man, "All I want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey re-entered at number 18.

Two new entries to the top 50 this week and I called out this song as being likely to be huge last, well "Candy Paint" by Post Malone has arrived at number 24, this song is showing all the signs of being BIGGER than both "rockstar" and "I Fall Apart" put together.
As for the other new entry, it's only G-Easy and Halsey's pipe dream of being the modern Bonnie and Clyde "Him & I" at number 37.

As for new entries to the top 100, there were two with "So Far away" by Martin Garrix and David Guetta feat. Jamie Scott and Romy Dya at number 58 and  "Miss You" by Louis Tomlinson at 66.


Nothing all that remarkable or surprising with the drop outs, there were three "Too Much to Ask" by Niall Horan, " Bodak Yellow (Money Moves" by Cardi B and "Mic Drop" by BTS and Desiigner all dropped out.

So that rounds things up for the week. Hopefully I'll have my worst hit songs of the year up at some point this week and also New Music Friday Review coming up with plenty of Camila Cabello to talk about!

New Music Friday Review: G -Eazy and Halsey's "Bonnie and Clyde" song.

Yet again a shorter than usual New Music Friday in the holiday season but I will post several songs to give a chance to.

Song: Him & I
Artist: G-Eazy, Halsey





So we have G-Eazy and his girlfriend Halsey releasing a song that Halsey described as being a "Bonnie and Clyde" song between two lovers cause there's nothing more amazing or original in pop rap than comparing your relationship to a pair of lovebird murderers.

As for the song, Halsey does well on the hook but wow, the lyrics are generic as all get out and G-Eazy jokes about if he was ever to be caught cheating, Halsey would cut his "hahahaha" off (we all know what he means though) and then goes on about dying and doing drugs. Meh, this song is forgettable, guaranteed I won't remember it unless radio picks it up

Rating: 4/10


Song; Miss You
Artist: Louis Tomlinson



So this might well be one of Louis Tomlinson's better songs, mainly because he has shed the EDM producers which I thought hamstrung the messages of his previous songs but "Miss You" takes a very pop rock feel rather than EDM and it works well with the guitar plus the stadium rock feel of the chorus. I actually like this a lot more than when I first heard it. Maybe Louis should shed the likes of Steve Aoki and Digital Farm Animals permanently.



Rating: 6/10


Songs to check out

"Stand Up Tragedy" by The Fratellis




"Broken People" by Logic feat. Rag 'n' Bone Man






"Fireworks" by First Aid Kit.






Best of the week: It's going to a song called "Swing" by Josiah and the Bonnevilles. It's actually pretty excellent.



Worst: Ugh. "Him & I" by G-Eazy and Halsey gets it for being forgettable.


Next week's New Music Friday:

Camila Cabello is releasing TWO new songs
Dinah Jane of 5th Harmony fame and Leona Lewis are releasing something tomorrow



So that wraps it up for this week. Don't forget you and check out the songs that I have been listening to this year via my playlist on Spotify. ARIA Chart out on Saturday, something tells me we're in for a
"perfect" new number one so stay tuned for my review of all that craziness.

ARIA top ten/Chart Review: 4th December: Top 10 barely got moves

I considered not bothering with this week's chart because barely anything happened inside the top 10 apart from a few moves lower down the top ten.

So yes, for a third week "Havana" by Camila Cabello remains at number one because it's had a pretty damn good sales week.

"Rockstar" by Post Malone and 21 Savage remains at number 2 but I see this song falling away a bit now especially with competition moving in behind it.

Post Malone's 2nd song inside the top 5 "I Fall Apart" remains at number 3 but yet again I really don't see this as a threat to "Havana"

Perhaps the biggest threat to "Havana" lies at number 4 with "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran and with a remix featuring Beyonce dropping on Friday, there is a very big chance that this song will make a serious play for the number one spot,

"Wolves" by Marshmello and Selena Gomez couldn't bridge the margins so remained at number 5. Marshmello's collab with Khalid "Silence remains at number 6.

Khalid remains at number seven with his solo hit and one that keeps growing on me every time I hear it "Young, Dumb and Broke"

Then finally we get to some movement with "What Lovers Do" by Maroon 5 and SZA up one to number 8 and "New Rules" by Dua Lipa up to number 9 but both those moves up look to be based on the weakness "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith slipping to number 10.

Now where things get interesting is the moves outside of the top 10, biggest gainer of the week where "Anywhere" by Rita Ora which moved from 23 to break into the top 20 at number 16 while NF's "Let You Down" jumped to the cusp of the top 10 at number 11 up from 17 last week. Pink's "Beautiful Trauma" jumped from 32 to 25 probably more based on the fact some people can't get enough of Channing Tatum.

As for the biggest losers? The biggest loser this week was "Walk on Water" by Eminem and Beyonce which continued it's downward momentum 24 from 15 last week. "1-800-273-8255" by Logic feat. Alessia Cara and Khalid slipped to number 22 from 16. A song that continues not to catch on whatsoever is "Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)" by Cardi B which slipped to number 45 from 38 last week.

So what dropped out?, There were three drop outs most surprisingly two of them from Taylor Swift with both "..Ready For It?" and "Look What You Made Me do" falling out of the chart, would expect "Look What You Made Me Do" will make the year end ARIA singles chart though. The other drop out is "Location" by Khalid.

As for the new entries inside the top 50: the highest debut this week was "Meant to be" by Bebe Rexha feat. country music (although in light of recent songs by Florida Georgia Line I guess that 'country' label can be questioned) duo Florida Georgia Line at number 26. "I Miss You" by Clean Bandit feat. Julia Michaels at number 46 and "Mic Drop (Stve Aoki Remix" by BTS and Desiigner entered the top 50 at number 50.

Outside of the top 50, the best of the new entries was "Deja-Vu" by Timmy Trumpet and Savage at number 55, "Cola" by CamelPhat and Elderbrook (this song is blowing up huge in the UK) at number 89 and "Kiwi by Harry Styles at number 97.

Would expect the ARIAs to have much more of an impact on this week's chart but before I go I want to alert you all to a song that could well be about to blow up big time on the charts, I mentioned Post Malone earlier, well he has a song on the Billboard Hot 100 right now called "Candy Paint" from the Fate of the Furious soundtrack and there are signs that this song is headed for the ARIA singles chart big time.





See you all soon for New Music Friday Review!