ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart. 21st September. The One With references to Nicole Kidman

 Nopreamble this week because there's ust not much to say, as per usual, it's "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley ruling the roost at number one, it's pretty much had sales and streaming on lock every week and that may not change until Taylor Swift's new single that's being released on Friday.

The top six held position with "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean at number two, "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean at number three, "Ordinary" by Alex Warren at number four, "Boston" by Stella Lefty at number five and "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo at number six. 

Unfortunately "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd rebounded two spots to number seven while "Love Me Not" by Ravyn Lenae returns to the top ten up three to number eight (seems faitly endemic of what is wrong with the charts), it did force "Loser" by Tame Impala back two slots to number ten and "The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo down two to number ten.

Losers

So the biggest loser this week was Bruno Mars wth "Risk It All" down twenty four to forty three and "I Just Might" down fourteen to forty one.

Meanwhile "Fever Dream" by Alex Warren down ten to forty nine.

Drop Outs

So we do have two drop outs this week with the biggest being "Dai Dai" by Shakira and Burna Boy (miracle it lasted this long on the top 50, the other being "My Body Isn't Ready" by Sombr.

Gains

There isn't much in the way of gains this week with the biggest being the eleven place gain for "Stop the Wedding" by Ashe to thirty six.

Re-Entries

Just the one return this week with "Undressed" by Sombr back at number forty eight. 

New Entries

14. "Nicole Kidman" by ADELA

So I still don't like "Ain't in LA" all that much, it's still this wispy insubstantial song that is below the grade of song that Adela is capable of as proven by her EP last year "Mr Provocateur" and look this is only slightly better than "Ain't In La" because it yet again feels like she's playing down to what her label thinks are acceptable non challenging standards for the mainstream with that sample amd that cooing vocal delivery that plays more for Ariana Grande. Ugh. I think I am going to skip this one too. 

That wraps our week. Next week...well I would have said something from Miley Cyrus but that doesn't seem likely so we'll have to see. 

Pretty Fly (For 1999), 19th September. One More Tasty Chance Everywhere

 Alright, let's get this party started because we have a new number one, knocking Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" from number one is Lou Bega's catchy as hell "Mambo No. 5", now this song is selling like hotcakes as it climbed the six places to reach the top of the chart summit.

It had the impact of pushing "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam back to number two as it just couldn't compete on sales and places "If Ya Gettin' Down" by Five down to number three in an awkward place...it's run for the top might be over at this point.

Slipping one to number four is "When You Say Nothing at All" by Ronan Keating while "Genie In a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera climbed one to number five.

It pushed "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!" by Vengaboys down one to number six while the big loser in all the reshuffling is "All Star" by Smash Mouth which tumbled three places to number seven. 

Rising one spot to number eight is "Wild Wild West" by Will Smith while up four to number nine is "2 Times" by Ann Lee, still not a fan of "2 Times"...just sounds a bit twee to me but anyway.

Finally slipping two to number ten is "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot.

Losers

So we begin with "Westside" by TQ diving ten slots to forty nine while "Love's Got a Hold On My Heart" by Steps fell seven to forty four. 

"Animal" by Jebediah slipped nine to forty.

Former number one "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer tumbled ten to thirty one while "Nookie" by Limp Bizkit fell nine to twenty eight. 

Finally, Killing Heidi's "Weir" fell ten to twenty four. 

Gains

We got a decent amount of gains this week beginning with "She's So High" by Tal Bachman up from thirty two to thirteen. 

We also saw Enrique Iglesias get a nice twelve place boost to fifteen with "Bailamos" off that debut last week (More on the Iglesias family in the new entries) while the absolutely excellent "Unpretty" by TLC rose from twenty nine to sixteen this week. 

"When I Grow Up" by Garbage jumped seven to thirty five.

New Entries

Six new entries starting most interestingly with...

50. "Forgiven" by Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals

Ben Harper is an American singer song-writer and multi instrumentalist, he has been active in the music scene since 1992. This particular song coming from Harper's album "Born to Shine" and well...I am not a fan of the production here especially when the guitars somewhat bury Ben Harper's vocals in tbe mix and leaves the song feeling somewhat underweight.whch is a shame because the content is actually really damn good, the narrator is opening themselves up to forgiving whatever this other person has done and giving this perosn space to come back into the narrator's life. 

I wish this was better that's all. 

46. "One More Chance" by Julio Iglesias Jr. 

So we have another member of the Iglesisas family on the chart, this time it's Julio Iglesias Jr who is the son of Julio Iglesias and brother of recent chart debutant Enrique. Julio Jr's song here has a lot of elements that do work like that incredible backing vocals from the woman at the beginning and the slow build but I feel like it's Julio Jr's vocals that are the problem here, they just don't impress me, they sound like somebody who has been smoking twenty packs of cigarettes a week and that's a shame because I really like everything else about the song here. Not going to lie...bit disappointed. 

45. "Tasty" by Ilanda

First of three Australian songs this week comes from Ilanda, with this the follow up to "It's Our Time" and well.. this song is somewhat worse even if this sounds likr an *NSYNC song with more sound effects than is necessary and I do suspect that this song is all about getting the freak on between the sheets aka eating bis partner out and he likes her being tasty and nasty at the same time which makes the production feel somewhat less sexy...actually screw that...makes the song feel horribly gross and not as sexy as anyone in Ilanda thinks...eww...let's move on.

39. "Everywhere You Go" by Taxiride

Oh hey, it's the second single from Taxiride and given how much I think "Get Set" is great, I was hoping that the second single would be as good and you know what? I think this does get there, this is a soaring pop rock song that still features some pretty terrific harmonies and a sticky central hook, also this song goes through some gear shifts and changes in sound that make this song somewhat compelling melodically. Also the content is pretty sweet with it all about reassuring a person that no matter where they go, somebody will always be with  them in spirit without holding them back. First really damn great song of the week and Taxiride are on fire right now! Check this out.

26. "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny Child

The newcomer to the ARIA top 50 of the week is Destiny's Child...an American R'n'B girl group out of the good old US of A, they've had two previous singles peak outside of the top 50 in Australia with this single from their second album "Writing's on the Wall" being the first to chart inside the Australian top 50 and I hate saying but this song is kind of lousy, I just hate how slimy and kind of gross this beat sounds paired with the voices of the girls, the only one who can remotely sell this is Beyonce who proves to have some serious vocal chops but yeah, they can ask others to pay their bills because I ain't comng back to this. 

17. "Miss You Love" by Silverchair

Finishing a long week with the newest single from "Diorama" by Silverchair and it's probably one of Silverchair's better ballads especially with the way instrumentation allows for Daniel Johns vocals to shine here, he sounds incredible. As for the lyric cntent of the song, its aimed at discussing the societal expectations of what showing love looks like and what affection looks like emotionally or feeling numbness. Really,there isn't that muh to say givn how good the song is. Check it out.

That wraps thhe week with the worst of the week going to "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child. Best of the week is going to "Everywhere You Go" by Taxi ride but it was a close go between it and "Miss You Love" by Silverchair.

ARIA Singles Top 50 Chart Review. 14th September. The One Where AI Messes Up Sun Dreams

Alright diving straight into the top ten where for yet another week, it's 
"Choosin' Texas' by Ella Langley at number one and there's no end in sight for this song's reign at the top especially now with a Drake and Don Toliver remix on the way (I have heard some of it...it's not good). 

The top six remained the same with "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean at number two, "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean at number three, "Ordinary" by Alex Warren at number four, "Boston" by Stella Lefty at number five and "Stupid Song' by Olivia Dean at number six.

Rebounding one slot to number seven is Tame Impala's "Loser" which swapped places with "The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo. "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd and "Self Aware" by Temper City both held position at nine and ten respectively.

Losers

So we did see "ILoveItILoveItILoveIt" by Bella Kay fall thirteen to thirty while "Animal" by Katseye continues its slow tumble down nine to thirty one.

Drop Outs

So we did have four songs drop out with Sombr's "Undressed" perhaps the biggest of the four and he did take "White Keys" by Dominic Fike and "Die on this Hill" by Sienna Spiro with him so that's all good. Also taking its exit is "Weren't for the wind" by Ella Langley.

Gains

So our gains are an odd mix, Bruno Mars saw sizeable gains for both "I Just Might" and "Risk It All" due to his tour of Australia. "Risk It All" climbed nineteen slots back into the top twenty at nineteen while "I Just Might" jumped nine slots to twenty seven. 

Adela's "Ain't in LA' climbed twenty seven spots to be the biggest gainer of the week and breaking into the top twenty at fifteen. 

Also breaking into the top twenty is "Midnight Sun" by Zara Larsson up nine to seventeen. 

Re-Entries

So two songs returned this week with Sombr's "My Body Isnn't Ready" back at number forty nine and "APT" by Rose and Bruno Mars back at forty four. 

New Entries

Two new entries this week beginning unfortunately with...

50. "Moving to the Sun" by Hugel, Imael Angel and Ultra Nate

So in the last few weeks or so, ARIA made a change to the charts that banned tracks deenmed to be 100% AI from the Australian charts, any tracks that have an element or two of AI in them hence i was surprised that this song showed up because this song started life as 100% AI track out of the notorious SUNO AI studios.

French producer Hugel heard the AI version and remade it from scratch in a stadio using actual instruments complete with Afro house grooves and adding vocals from 90s/2000's act Ultra Nate  to the song so hence ARIA allowed it to chart as a result and well...the song still sucks even with the fact it was rebuilt by humans mostly because the lyrics still have that very AI feel to them and there's only so much that Ultra Nate can do here vocally to make the lyrics make sense because what the hell is "I'm moving to the sun, I did it all the time"?

Yeah, the sooner this song is off the charts the better for all concerned. Hugel needs to find better songs to jump on here because this ain't it. Fuck AI.

47. "Stop the Wedding!" by Ashe.

Took long enough for Ashe to land another charting song on the ARIA singles chart, she charted with a Niall Horan remix of her song  "Moral Of the Story" back in 2020  which peaked at number forty four. .Now she's got this song going viral and this song has one hell of an interesting premise that you don't often hear in a pop song, a song that's all about someone wanting to stop the weddbecause they realize that the relationship feels wrong and going to a commitment for life to that person would be a mistake and the production does play up some of the tension and drama around taking such a decision to stop or cancel a wedding with the faster guitars on the verses etc, I am not crazy abut the chorus of this song but you know what? It's solid enough song with a premise you don't often see on the charts which is probably why it's going viral right now.

That ends our week and "Stop the Wedding" by Ashe is the easy best of the week. "Moving to the Sun" by Hugel, Imael Angel and Ultra Nate is the easy worst of the week.

Next week, I imagine we'll probably see Adela with a song or two from her album chart...

Pretty Fly (For 1999). 12th September. Mambo Genie of My Castle in a Bottle No. 5 All I Ever Had

 We got a wild one this week, got two shiny new entries in the top ten this week and they both might be worth keeping an eye on so let's dive straight in, there's no movement at the top as "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam continues to hold sway at number one ahead of "If Ya Gettin' Down" by Five at number two and "When You Say Nothing at All" by Ronan Keating at nunmber three. 

Smash Mouth are the first of our movers this week as "All Star" climbed to a new peak of number four., it switched places with "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!" by The Vengaboys at number five and appears to be on the way out.

Then we have the first of our two new songs inside the top ten with "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera at number six, it's here thanks to sales really giving this song a huge lift.

Right behind it is the second of the new songs to debut in the top ten that being "Mamb No. 5" by Lou Beg at number seven, like with "Genie in a Bottle", I'll go into this song's quality in the new entries but this looks like a hit in the making maybe more so than "Genie in a Bottle" but we'll have to wait and see but right now those numbers are looking solid for a run at the top.

It did cause "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot to go slightly off down one to number eight while rising two slots to number nine is "Wild Wild West" by Will Smith. 

Finally "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thig" by Chris Isaak fell one slot to complete our top ten for this week at number ten. 

Losers

A lot of big losers this week with a couple of former top ten hits suffering big plunges this week, take "Man! I  Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain down from twenty six to forty five while "Say It Once" by Ultra down from forty three to twenty five.

"When I Grow Up" by Garbage slipped eight slots to forty two while "Saltwater" by Chicane featuring Maire Brennan fell seven to thirty eight, it was a similar story for Steps with "Love's Got a Hold of My Heart" down eight to thirty seven. 

Sadly, "Dig" by Mark Lizotte fell hard off it's debut down from eighteen to thirty three while "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin fell seven to thirty. 

Gains

So we did see a few gains and I am mostly fine with the big gains we got like "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias climbing twelve to twenty seven. 

"Smooth" by Santana feat. Rob Thomas up eleven to twenty two however the biggest gain of the week belonged to "Sing It Back" by Moloko which jumped from forty one to twenty four. 

New Entries

Five new entries this week beginning with...

47. "King Of My Castle" by Wamdue Project

So we're starting this week with what seems like our weekly new electronic music entry this time coming from an American music producer Chris Brann who goes under the name Wamdue Project with vocals supplied by Gaelle Adisson. 

Now this song is fascinating because it actuallt references Sigmund Freud's theroy about the unconscious being that the human ego is not actually free but is controlled by the unconscious mind (which to a degree does explain a lot about human behaviour recently) which makes it a shame that I am not really all that impressed by the production here, the vocals from Adisson are buried in the mix which is not great given I am not sure her vocals are all that impressive to begin with! The instrumentation doesn't change all that much or do anuthing all that interesting...ehh, we can do better.

44. "Mambo No. 5" by Latin Lou + The Mambo All Stars

See number 7 for my thoughts on "Mambo No. 5", this is just the same song with a Latin touch.

35. 'She's All I Ever Had" by Ricky Martin

So after the party that was the previous single "Livin' La Vida Loca", we're going into ballad territory with this song from Ricky Martin and while this instrumentally sounds great, I cannot help but think this strips Ricky of his charm and charisma, it  sounds like something Bryan Adams would have madei in the early nineties especially on the hook but at least Ricky sounds somewhat believeable here in that this woman in his life is all he has ever had or needed. It's fine, I just wish it felt a little less Bryan Adams and more Ricky Martin...just saying.

7. "Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega

The second of three newcomers to the chart this week and it comes from German singer David Lubega Balemezi but goes by Lou Bega, he has taken a classic 1949 instrumental piece by Prado to remake it into this song and well...this song is just sold on Lou Bega's charisma and effortless charm alone and it makes sense considering how many women he has on his arm in this song. In the first verse he mentions he can't beer bust like last week before talking about women that he likes and how flirting is a sport, he sounds like he is having fun flirting with Angela, Pamela, Sandra, Rita, Jessica, Monica, Tina and Erica!

Then he gives out the instructions for a dance on the second verse and the song immediately tilts into being this insanely silly but fun dance song. I dig it, this is hilarious, check it out.

6. "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera.

Third and final newcomer of the week is from American singer Christina Aguilera, she got her start around the same time as Britney Spears did on Mickey Mouse Club and is now releasing this song as her debut single and well...it's okay? I don't think its anywhere near as good as Britney's "Baby, One More Time" but I do like the piano and Christina is definitely a talented singer...there's more to her range than she shows on this song. 

As for the content, she's telling this dude that if he wants to get with her than he needs to pretend she's this genie in a bottle and has to rub the bottle the right way to let her out...the Aladdin trope in full there, only surprised there was no mention of giving the guy three wishes. In short, the song is fine, Aguilera has potential but she can do better.

That ends this week and while nothing was too egregious, I am giving worst of the week to "King Of My Castle" by Wamdue Project. "Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega is getting the best of the week because yeah...that song is so much fun. 

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart. 7th September. The One Where There's Very Little To Say

 Alright, this one is going to be brief because there were again no new entries and...I am kind of disappointed by the fact that Alex Warren's "Emerald Eyes" didn't debut.but anyway let's get into the top ten where of course there's no change at the top where "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley rules the roost for yet another week, it's still a monster, sales and streaming.

Hence it held up easily over "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean at numbder two which effectively swapped positions with "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean which slipped back to number three. 

Same goes for Alex Warren's "Ordinary" jumping back up one slot to number four and "Boston" by Stella Lefty falling back to number five.

"Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo held steady at number six while Rodrigo's other top ten hit right now "The Cure" rebounded two slots to number seven. 

"Loser" by Tame Impala also held firm at number eight although I really would like to see this leave the top ten quickly now. the same goes for "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd which fell two to number nine.

Finally remaining steady at number ten is "Self Aware" by Temper City.

Losers

Former number one "Animal" by Katseye fell nine slots to twenty two while "Oh yeah?" by Steve Lacy hit a thirteen slot rough patch back to twenty nine. 

Olivia Rodrigo's "Drop Dead' slipped eight to thirty five while F3miii's "Noble" suffered a ten place skid to forty nine. 

Drop Outs

So we did see four songs drop out, those being "Some of Your Love" by PartyNextDoor, "Petal" by Ariana Grande, "Baby Steps" by Olivia Dean and maybe the biggest drop out of the four..."Stateside" by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson.

Gains

So most of our big gains were for older songs however "Midnight Sun" by Zara Larsson climbed ten to twenty six.

Bruno Mars tour of Australia also saw "I Just Might" rise fourteen off it's return to number thirty six. 

The two older songs that saw major boosts were "Back to Friends" by Sombr up twelve to sixteen and "Where is My Husband" by RAYE up ten to fifteen. 

Re-Entries

Four returns this week with album release impact seeing Alex Warren's "Fever Dream" back at thirty one although he also saw the return of "Carry You Home" at forty six.

Bruno Mars had "Risk It All" back at number thirty eight while finally Sombr's "Undressed" is back at fifty.

With there being no new entries to talk about that wraps this week. Next week could be as quiet as this week because unless streaming picks up...I do not see the new Miley Cyrus single charting but we'll have to see. 

Pretty Fly (For 1999). 5th September. Sing it and Bailamos Back, Nookie!

 Let's dive right into the top ten where for yet another week, it's "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam remains at number one for yet another week, its strong on sales still. Really, am over this song already though however I am glad it kept "If Ya Gettin' Down" by Five at nunmber two.

Rising one slot to number three is "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating which had another good sales week to the point it pushed "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by Vengaboys back to number four.

A song that might make a play for number one is "All Star" by Smash Mouth as it moved up two number five.

"Silence" by Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan claimbed two slots to number six while "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot slipped back one to number seven.

All this action was likely because "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez slipped three slots to number eight, this song appears to be on the way out now. 

"Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing"  by Chris Isaak rose six into the top ten at number nine. Finally Britney Spears completes the top ten at number ten with "Sometimes" dropping one spot. 

Losers

Australia have had enough of Soulsearcher's "Can't Get Enough" so its down ten to fifty this week. 

"The Day the World Went Away" bore witness to the day it fell off it's chart debut of thirty one to forty six for Nine Inch Nails.

"Westside" is heading southside on the charts down from twenty six to forty for TQ while "Animal" by Jebediah lost it's bite down twelve to twenty eight.

Gains

Gains are a bit on the slow side with the biggest gain of the week being for a consistent gainer lately that being "2 Times" by Ann Lee which climbed ten places to number twelve.

New Entries

Six new entries this week, beginning with

43. "Mi Chico Latino" by Geri Halliwell

About time we got the follow up to the rather underwhelming "Look at Me" (seriously...that song only gets worse with time) and well, I am not convinced that this song is that much better although Geri's vocals are definitely sounding better on the verses until that bridge and honestly this just feels like it's trying to do a 90s version of "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna only this song doesn't quite stick the landing. I'd probably skip this song. 

41. "Sing It Back" by Moloko

Another newcomer on the chart...had a lot of those in 1999, this time it's an English-Irish electronic duo of singer Roisin Murphy and producer Mark Brydon and I'll say this...this song is pretty effective at what it does well especially in the production which features some really nice sounding guitarrs and percussion and Murphy's vocals are placed really nicely in the mix because she just stands out here.as she tries to keep a fading connection in her life via using music and wanting this other person to sing it back to her. All in all...pretty good song. 

39. "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias

We're onto another newcomer although Enrique Iglesias has been around awhile in Latin America having released three albums in Spanish with his fourth album his debut English album and well...this is actually a pretty damn good introduction to Iglesias sound. "Bailamos" (English translatoin: "We Dance") is for the film "Wild Wild West" and well, I just think this song is absolutely great and I'd love to see it be huge here, I love the elements of flamenco that slide in and Enrique Iglesias has enough charm and charisma to make his urging of surrendering to the music and just simply living in the moment work. Great song but I don't know if  it''s better than...

32. "Unpretty" by TLC

The follow up to the nummber one hit "No Scrubs"...I am going to ditch any kind of preamble with this song because this is better than "No Scrubs" mostly because the message this song carries holds resonance for me especially when the production is somewhat more restrained even if there is a pretty cool little guitar solo toward the end as TLC sing that no matter how much make up you put on or doing your hair nice, you are only going to be pretty on the outside when it's what's on the inside that counts in terms of accepting yourself flaws and all. This is just a  damn great pop r'n'b song, check this out.

18. "Dig" by Mark Lizotte

I was kind of shocked this debuted higher than TLC but hey, it's nice to see Mark Lizotte in the top 20 of the ARIA singles chart mostly because this song is his first single under his actual birth name rather than Diesel and wow...this snng is definitely nothing like what he made as Diesel, it reminds me a lot of Collective Soul but with more of a jangle pop edge. The content is somewhat dark, Lizotte encouraging this person not to dig to correct his past mistakes but rather to accept what happened and become "friends" with those demons. Another damn good song.

13. "Nookie" by Limp Bizkit

 To end what has been a long week, we're finishing it off with American act Limp Bizkit because of course we can't have all good things. Yeah, this sucks, there's no melody to this and it sounds like the percussion is actively playing two separate songs at once while Fred Durst has all the presence of a street sweeper even with just how annoying his vocals are, there's nothing here that makes me want to come back to this shit show of a song.

Yeah, easy worst of the week. As for the best...it was a really good week overall, I am going to go with "Unpretty" by TLC narrowly ahead of Mark Lizotte and Enrique Iglesias. 

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart. 31st August. The one where normal service is resumed aka Ella's number one

 Little point in messing around, let's jump straight into the top ten where "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley returns to number one as it continues to hold sway on sales and streaming. 

"Man I Need" by Olivia Dean returned to number two while "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean rebounded to number three.

Rising two slots to number four is "Boston" by Stella Lefty...can we not let this song rise any further, Australia...please/

Staying steady at number five is "Ordinary" by Alex Warren while "Stupid Song" by Ollivia Rodrigo rebounded two slots to number six. 

Returning to number seven up three is "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd, it moved past "Loser" by Tame Impala which slipped one to number eight,

"The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo remained steady at number nine. Finally, arriving in the top ten this week is "Self Aware" by Temper City which climbed two slots to..unfortunately...hit number ten this week...ugh.

Losers

Two major losers this week with "Petal" by Ariana Grande slipping ten to forty two, mostly because I think people are still clinging to "Hate That I Made You Love Me" which is understandable as "Petal" is pretty lousy.

The other major loser is last week's number one "Animal" by Katseye which fell twelve lots thirteen.

Drop Outs

This week saw four songs leave with Sombr's "My Body Isn't Ready" and "Undressed" gone alongside "Been by Now" by Morgan Wallen and "The Days (Notion Remix" by Chrystal. 

Gains

Not much in the way of gains this week with the biggest gain being a fifteen place jump for "Great Expectation" by Sienna Spiro to fifteen for some reason. That song is not any good for goodness sake!

Re-Entries

Three returns this week beginning with "I Just Might" by Bruno Mars at fifty, "Baby Steps" by Olivia Dean at forty nine and "Die on This Hill" by Sienna Spiro at forty eight. 

New Entries

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

32. "Some of Your Love" by PartyNextDoor

So when I saw this debuted, I rolled my eyes, it's not like PartyNextDoor as a artist is a goldmine of personality and he was worse than Drake on "Some Sexy Songs 4 U" and yeah, it's no different here with the production that ensures that this song could have been done better by The Weeknd especially with that guitar and PartyNextDoor is using Jesus Christ turning water into wine on the second verse to justify his love of alcohol which is just weird as hell so no this song sucks.

That's our week and man alive, the charts suck right now. Next week could be anything...I guess maybe Alex Warren? We'll have to see. 

Pretty Fly (For 1999). 29th August. The Day Animal Went Away Smooth

 No preamble this week, let's just get straight into it with our top ten where for yet another week, it's Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" at number one, it's ruling sales right now to the point that I don't see what is going to challenge it.

Sure Five rise to number two with "If Ya Gettin' Down" but it's thankfully not bridging any margins right now, really could argue it moved up one because "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by The Vengaboys which slipped one to number three. 

"When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating remained at number four likewise for Jennifer Lopez's "If You Had My Love" which remains at number five.

"Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot rose one spot to number six as it continues to get traction. Smash Mouth's "All Star" jumped three spots to number seven while "Silence" by Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan remains rooted to the number eight slot.

"Sometimes" by Britney Spears slipped three places to number nine while rising into the top ten is "Wild Wild West" by Will Smith up one to number ten.

Losers

Not much in the way of major losers this week although we did see "Don't Cry" by Human Nature slip from twenty eight and "Say It Once" by Ultra dropping from nineteen to twenty five. 

Finally "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" by Shania Twain was the biggest loser of the week down nine spots to wenty three.

Gains

Also not much to report with out gains. Ann Lee's "2 Times" continues to see traction this week, it's up eleven to twenty three.

New Entries

Three new entries this week beginning with...

38. "Smooth" by Santana feat. Rob Thomas

So we're beginning this week with a song that I am certain is probably already showing signs of dominating the US charts. Santana, a rock legend of the 70s and 80s working with the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas and I guess if you picture a cross section where these two could possibly meet, it's "Smooth" with Santana providing this searing Latin guitar groove and Rob Thomas sliding in with the vocals that definitely are filtered on the verses however when the filter disappear on the hook and what a hook it is, Thomas is singing with a conviction that I haven't heard since Matchbox Twenty's first album. This song is going to be huge in the US and should be msssive in Australia too. Check this out.

31. "The Day The World Went Away" by Nine Inch Nails

So my experience with NIne Inch Nails is rather limited, they are a band I really haven't seeked out to llisten to unless they have appeared in the new entries for one of these blog entries but anyway we have this song which comes from Nine Inch Nails album "The Fragile" and well I like the sentiment of the song and not much else here, it's about the loss of a loved one that leaves a person so shattered and empty the world feels like it's gone away from them the loss being that hard to cope with. 

However I really cannot get behind the production here, it just feels like a wall of noise with Trent Reznor's voice barely heard in the middle of the mix, it's a hard listen. I think I am going to skip this one. 

16. "Animal" by Jebediah

I am floored this song debuted as high as it has, definitely something I wouldn't have expected when I first looked at the chart for this week but anyway Jebediah are a alternative roclk band hailing from Perth, Western Australia. This song coming from their second album titled "Of Someday Shambles" and well...this is fine, it's better than the Nine Inch Nails track before it because yeah there's good melody here even if some the instrumentation sounds oddly electronic and I am not overly wild about the vocals either, they can feel a bit to sharp and nasal for me. I don't think the song is bad...far from it, it's just not for me. 

That wraps this week and the best and the worst falls out easily. Worst of the week goes to "The Day the World Went Away" by Nine Inch Nails. Best of the week went to "Smooth" by Santana feat. Rob Thomas

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart Review: 24th August The One Where I'm Confused.

 So this week confounded and confused me in one way and yet it seems like another very stagnant, slow week on the ARIA singles chart however where the confusing and confounding comes in is right at the very top because we have a new number one..it's "Animal" by Katseye and I am not really sure how because it's not like it's been even close to "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley which slipped back to number two this this week on sales or streaming unless "Animal" got some incredible traction on Youtube...just a weird one. 

Anyway "Man I Need" remained steady at number three while "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean slipped back two to number four,

"Ordinary" by Alex Warren fell back one to number five while "Boston" by Stella Lefty hit a new peak rising two to to number six.

There was also a new peak for "Loser" by Tame Impala up four to mimber seven. "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo slipped back two to number eight while "The Cure" also by Olivia Rodrigo remained at number nine.

Finally "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd stumbled three spots to number ten. Can only hope this means the song exits the top ten next week. We deserve that piece of good news, surely?

Losers

So if you are wondering where "Hate That I Made You Love Me" by Ariana Grande went, it fell six places to number eleven. "Daisies" by Justin Bieber fell seven to thirty four. 

The biggest fall of the week was "Petal" by Ariana Grande which got dumped twenty two spots to thirty two. 

Drop Outs

Three songs took their exits this week with "Sailor Song" by Gigi Perez and "Die On This Hill" by Sienna Spiro taking their exits (again).

The only other exit is "The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry which went to the On Repeat Top 50 Singles Chart

Gains

As for the gains this week, not too many major gains but we did see a twelve place gain for "Oh Yeah?" by Steve Lacy to number thirteen. "Where Is My Husband" by RAYE up seven to twenty two and "Nice to Each Other" by Olivis Dean up seven to twrnty four

Re-Entries

Two songs returned this week, I am particularly pleased to see "My Body Isn't Ready" by Sombr back at number forty eight. Also back this week though is the still incredibly annoying "The Days (Notion Remix)" by Chrystal.

New Entries

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

46. "Ain't in LA" by Adela

Oh I have been waiting for this chart debut to happen, I was expecting it sooner than this though, for those who don't know, Adela is a Slovakian singer-songwriter and dancer, she rose to prominence on 2023 show Dream Academy (yes, same show that spawned the birth of Katseye) and she actually put out an EP called The Provocateur around the same time last year that got a lot of praise and attention...now that really wasn't to my taste but I got why she was so highly thought of so I was curious when "Ain't In LA" the latest single from her upcoming debut album "La Prima" due out next week, I was curious and...

I'm sorry but I am not a fan of this at all, this just sounds like it's been melting in the California sun on a freeway between the California desert and Nevada.because right from the opening this reminds me of god damn "23" by Mike Will Made It especially with the creepy ass male vocal that sounds slimy as fact while Adela pontificates that the maybe the baddest bitches aren't in L.A over one of the more lethargic beats imaginable.

Yeah, this bis is disappointing. Skip it

It's also the worst of the week. No best of the week because we only had the one new debut.

Next week...oh god...PartyNextDoor...maybe Olivia Rodrigo could notch an early debut with her new song...

Pretty Fly (For 1999) 22nd August. Friend, You Are Not My Passenger

 Little bit of a slower week this week but I'll take a slower week so let's dive into the top ten where for yet another week, it's "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam at number one, it's pretty much a solid lock to stay at the top next week too. 

Meanwhile "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!" by The Vengaboys rebounded one spot to number two but it's coming under pressure from "If Ya Gettin' Down" by Five which climbed three spots to number three because I guess a bunch of people are wiggy wiggy that Five are apparently getting jiggy...ew.

Anyway "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating rose two to number four although that's probably because "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez which slipped three to number five. 

Britney Spears saw a one place slide to number six for "Sometimes", it's now got "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot which climbed two slots to number seven and "Silence" by Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan which moved up three to number eight. 

Former number one "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer slipped two spots to number nine. 

Smash Mouth jumped into the top ten up four spots to number ten with "All Star"

Losers

So we start with "Look at Me" by Geri Halliwell sliding out of the top fifty down ten slots to forty six, we have to be due a new single from her soon. 

Monifah's "Bad Girl" dipped twelve to forty while "When I Grow Up" by Garbage fell off it's debut to fall seven to twenty nine.

Ultra's "Say It Once" fell out of the top ten down nine to nineteen. 

Gains

The gains are a bit on the messy side this week, we do have "American Woman" by Lenny Kravitz rising from twenty three to sixreen and somehow "Baby Did A Bad Bad thing" by Chris Isaak is the biggest riser of the week climbing from it's return of thirty five to eighteen.

"2 Times" by Ann Lee rose twelve slots to thirty one while "Saltwater" by Chicane feat. Maire Brennan regained some ground rising from forty two to thirty five.

Re-Entries

One return this week with "Happiness" by Regurgitator back at number forty four

New Entries

Two new entries this week, beginning with....

49. "You Are Not My Friend" by Frenzal Rhomb

Both new entries are from Australian rock bands and we're starting off with this relationship break up that's gotten nasty from punk rockers Frenzal Rhomb and this is one I really do not get the instrumental appeal of, for a song where he is resentful and angry because this ex friend rooted against the narrator's successful career but I'm sorry this song for as mad as the lyrics are just isn't going hard enough in the instrumentation to sell the anger and resentment that's clearly on display here. This song could be so much better...next!

32. "Passenger" by Powderfinger

Now this is more like it. Powderfinger back with a new single and the first thing I noticed is how there's genuine tension in the vocal delivery on the verses and how the song actually builds into a damn great hook delivered with conviction by frontman Bernard Fanning. It's a song all about escaping the 9 to 5 grind and everyday routines for something different and exciting that's completely out of the rat race. Damn great song, check this out!

Yeah, easy best of the week for "Passenger" by Powderfinger. Worst of the week goes to "You Are Not My Friend" by Frenzal Rhomb.  

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart Review. 17th August The one where Best of the Week is not one of the new entries

Lets dive into this week because not that much changed especially in the top ten. "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley continues to rule the chart at number one. It's still a strong sales and streaming leader...nothing is getting near it. 

That includes "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean which jumped two places to retake number two thanks mostly to a decent week on sales. "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean held firm at number three.

Continuing to hang around like a venereal disease that refuses to go away, "Ordinnary" by Alex Warren up three to number four because Australians apparently don't realize new music exists. 

Slipping three to five is Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me", more on Ariana later. "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo held firm at number six. "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd rrebounded two slots to return to it's peak of number seven. 

 There's a new arrival to the top ten...sadly...it's "Boston" by Stella Lefty which climbed three to number eight. The less said the better. "The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo rebounded one spot to number nine.

All off this is because "Petal" by Ariana Grande slumped five spots to number ten. 

Losers

So there's not much to talk about in the way of losers this week with the biggest unsurprisingly being "Dai Dai" by Shakira and Burna Boy down twenty five slots to thirty eight. 

Other than that most songs regained position thanks to the recedation of the Ariana Grande album bomb

Drop Outs

So the drop outs are just every single album track from Ariana Grande's "Petal"...

Gains

So I don't think it's worth going through every song that rose this week so I am going to do double digit gains and the songs that hit new peaks this week. 

The one double digit gain is "Love Me Not" by Ravyn Lenae up ten to fifteen.

Now onto the new peaks this week with Sienna Spiro seeing traction for "Material Lover" to go up neight to forty one and "Great Expectations" up eleven to thirty four.

Whiskey Myers "Broken Window Serenade" climbed eight to thirty six wbile "Bloodstream" by Alyssa Grace rose one to hit seventeen. and 

Finally Temper City's "Self Aware" jumped three to reach number twelve. 

Re-Entries

With the exit of all the Ariana Grande songs, we have eight songs returning this week and we begin with the unfortunate return of "Die On This Hill" by Sienna Spiro at fifty...seriously this song is rancid...get it off the charts. 

Also back is "Undressed" by Sombr at forty nine, "A Couple Minutes" by Olivia Dean at forty eight, "Been by Now" by Morgan Wallen at forty seven, "Sailor Song" by Gigi Perez (have to think this song is getting close to being moved to the on replay chart) at forty six, "Orbiter" by Noah Kahan at forty five, "Stateside" by Pink Pantheress and Zara Larsson at forty four and finally "Midnight Sun" by Zara Larsson at forty three.

New Entries

Two new entries this week, beginning with....

25. "oh yeah?" by Steve Lacy

Hey Steve Lacy finally turns back up on the chart with a song from his new album that seems to have some momentum on the charts which means I can hope all the Steve Lacy wannabes like Malcolm Todd can go away and while I like this a good deal more than "Earrings", this just feels flat and meandering from Steve Lacy, not helped by the background vocals. I'd skip this,

12. "Loser" by Tame Impala

God damn it. We did not have to go back to "Deadbeat" to grab another Tame Impala song to make a hit because this is complete buns too. Kevin Parker's voice is buried in the mix and production that doesn't evolve or do much over the run time of the song and it doesn't even move out of first gear. Completely underwhelming.

Completely underwhelming describes the week here. Best of the week is going to "Things Take Time" bv Gang of Youths...a song that deserves to be on the charts if we're all about supporting Australian music in this country. Worst of the week is "Loser" by Tame Impala...can't stand how that song sounds

Pretty Fly (for 1999). 15th August. I Won't Get Down as She's High On Love

 So let's dive into this week starting with the top ten because nothing changed with our top three. "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam remains at number one ahead of "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez at number two and "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by Vengaboys at number three.

Five's new song "If Ya Gettin' Down" enters at number four. More about the quality or the lack there of letter but it did havw the impact of pushing "Sometimes" by Britney Spears back to number five.

The rise of "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating continues as it umped one spot to number six that said it likely benefited from the two spot slide for "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer to number seven.

Also sliding two slots was "Man! I Feel LIke A Woman!" by Shania Twain to number eight while "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot remains at number nine.

Finishing up our top ten for this week is "Say It Once" by Ultra which slipped two to number ten.

Losers

Turns out the public have had enough of Soul Searcher's "I Can't Get Enough" which is down ten slots to forty nine. They are also flying away from Lenny Kravitz with "Fly Away" down six to forty eight. 

"Saltwater" by Chicane feat. Maire Brennan slumped from thirty six to forty two while "Get Ready" by Ma$e feat. Blackstreet stumbled from thirty five to forty one. 

I am very happy the two NKOTB alumni solo songs fell this week with Jordan Knight's "Give It To You" down seven to forty and "Stay the Same" by Joey McIntyre down seven to thirty eight.

The tribute to ABBA "Tbank ABBA For the Music" by Steps (more on them in the new entries), Cleopatra, Tina Cousins, B*Witched and Billie slipped ten to thirty nine as it heads toward the chart exit.

"Why Don't You Get a Job?" by The Offspring slid nine to tthirty seven while "Look at Me" by Geri Halliwell fell six to thirty six. "These Are the Times" by Dru Hill fell ten to thirty three (why is this song still on the chart? It's garbage)/.

Gains

Our gains are a mixed blessing indeed this week with "Shimmer" by Fuel riding its way up from twenty three to sixteen, "Have A Look" by Vanessa Amorosi rising from twenty one to seventeen and "Weir" by Killing Heidi having the biggest gain of the week rising twelve to twenty six. 

However we also saw "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole up from thirty four tto twenty nine and "The Hardest Thing" by 98 Degrees up six to thirty one...sigh...can we not make either song a hit please?

Re-Entries

So bit of a weird one this week with Chris Isaak's "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing" returning to the chart at number thirty five. It originally debuted on the chart in October 1995 peaking at number thirty three in November of that year although apparently the reason this song is back is because of a remix. It's just weird as I really do not care for this song at all. 

New Entries

Five new entries this week beginning with...

50. "I Won't Let You Down" by Kate Cebrano

So we're starting this week with Kate Ceberano's cover of English group Ph.d's 1982 hit and she's turned this song into a spacey sounding pop rock song where I have to ask who did the vocal production on this because Kate doesn't sound that good here, her voice sounds almost buried by the noise that's trying and failing to add more weight and layers to a song that kind of doesn't need it given the subject matter where the narrator is begging for a second chance from their beloved and vowing that they won't let their darling down again. I think I'll pass on this one.

44. "She's So High" by Tal Bachman

- Okay so this week's chart debutant is a Canadian singer songwriter Tal Bachman whose father happened to be in 70s band Bachman Turner Overdrive. Bachman described this song as having taken inspiration from Sheryl Crow's "If It Makes You Happy" and is apparently about the time Bachman tried to get the hottest girl in his school to date his stepbrother but wound up in complete awe of her himself. Just a shame that the thing that bothers me about this song is Bachman himself where he sounds like he is having a wrench tightened on his balls on the hook, its actually tough to listen to.

Throw in the random reference to Joan of Arc who burned at the stake and it's a strange ass thing to be in awe of this girl yet compare her to a woman who burned at the stake...come on, we can do better. Next!

30. "Love's Got a Hold of My Heart" by Steps

So I liked "Heartbeat" from Steps so I was curious what they would offer with this latest single and wow, this feels very much like it was set for a musical theatre stage especially with the way Claire and Faye's are embracing the vocal gymnastics here and even if I am not a fan of the whispered adlibs Lisa provides (tad creepy) but it doesn't take away from the song overall especially as the song builds into that incredibly dramatic chorus that does give off a woman flinging her forearm to her head and gasping "Love has this brutal hold on my heart!" It's a cute Pete Waterman co produced song...check it out.

22. "When I Grow Up" by Garbage

Always fun to have a new Garbage song on the chart and this one is no exception, it comes from their album "Version 2.0" and well this may as well be an alt rock anthem for those people out there who feel misunderstood by the rest of society but are seeking to gain control of their life and live it on their terms ignoring the judgements of others who try to do to the contrary, Shirley Manson is also very adept at selling this message because my god does she command the attention on this song, she's got this tone that makes this song work, she's the one in control of her...nobody else. This is definitely worth a listen...good song, shame I can't say the same for...

4. "If Ya Gettin' Down" by Five

I mean...if we're going to give Five the highest charting new song of the week, it couldn't have been for something that's better than a brag anthem where every line of the hook ends in the word 'baby' all before J raps about refreshing your mind that boys are bring the funk back to town, well I'd say they were bringing the funk back if it weren't for the god damn piercing whistle on the hook, the amateurish brag rapping from J smf ABS (who opens his verse wtth "wiggy wiggy, I'm getting jiggy". Seriously? Who on earth is impressed by the rhyming here? Also telling us he only has 12 seconds left on his verse, nobody asked, dude.)  

The most I can praise here is the bass groove which actually unlike the rest of this mess has an appeal and under anything that's better that god awful rapping and that piercing whistle that would drive cars into dirches, there'd be some appeal but no, this song can get in the fucking bin.

Yeah, easy worst of the week for "If Ya Gettin' Down" by Five, I never want to hear that song again. Best of the week is going to Garbage for "When I Grow Up", it's just got more connectivity for me than "Love's Got a Hold on My Heart" by Steps/

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart Review 10th August. The One Where I Try To Go As Easy As Possible

 So we got the Ariana Grande album bomb and while I doon't really have a lot to say about the album, I will get to what I have to say about it later so let's dive into the top ten where of course "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley continues to rein supreme at number one for another week, it's got streaming and sales on lock at this point and nothing is getting near it.

Not even the album boost for "Hate That I Made You Love Me" by Ariana Grande up four slots to number two, would expect to see this fall back next week however it did push "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean back one to number three and "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia back to number four.

The album bomb from Ariana Grande ensured that the album title track and new single "Petal" entered at number five, more on this song later, it did knock "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo back to number six and "Ordinary" by Alex Warren down three to number seven.

Holding steady at number eight much to my surprise is "Animal" by Katseye, I am okay with it, just surprised. "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd fell two slots to number nine and "The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo slipped back one to round out the top ten at number ten. 

Losers

So this album bomb didn't force the large scale double digit drops for so many songs this week so I am going to focus on those double digit drops starting with "Noble" by F3miii which slipped fifteen to fifty.

"The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry slipped ten slots to forty six, it was also a ten place drop for "White Keys" by Dominic Fike to forty two. 

"Where is My Husband" by Raye slumped eleven to thirty three and "12 to 12" by Sombr trundled down ten to thirty one. 

"Drop Dead" by Olivia Rodrigo dropped thirteen to twenty nine.

Drop Outs

So because of the album bomb we have a slew of songs dropping out that will in likelihood all be back next week so let's rip through these beginning with "Been By Now" by Morgan Wallen, "Orbiter" by Noah Kahan, "Stateside" by Pink Pantheress feat. Zara Larsson, "Midnight Sun" by Zara Larsson, "I Just Might" by Bruno Mars, "Kingdom of Fear" by Cameron Whitcomb, "Undressed" by Sombr, "Bed on Fire" by G Flip, "Freaked Out" by Fat Papi and prodshushy, "Sailor Song" by Gigi Perez and finally the last of the Olivia Rodrigo album tracks "Honeybee"

Gains

Just the one maor gain this week with it unfortunately being "Bloodstream" by Alyssa Gace which rose eleven slots to eighteen...yay...not

New Entries

So we did get an Ariana Grande album bomb for "Petal" this week so let's go through the debuts that weren't top ten or best or worst of the week. "Nowhere, nobody" at forty eight, 'Warning Signs (interlude)" at forty seven", "never get over me" enters at forty,"freak" at thirty nine "big feelings" at thirty five, "like i do" at twenty two, "stay" at twenty, "all well" at nineteen and "kiss me" at twelve.

All that makes things easier because we now only have two songs to talk about and they are both Ariana Grande songs, beginning with....

43. "Bad Things (Bunny Hop)" by Ariana Grande

So "Petal" as an album is...fine...it's not good but it's not terrible either, if anything is emblematic of an artist making what amounts to be one of the artist's most creatively tired albums to date, I can't imagine Ariana is exactly getting much rest between Wicked and her current tour for her previous album, it kind of reminds me a lot of "The Life of A Showgirl" by Taylor Swift in that both are tired albums from artists who probably should have taken a break post tour/post filming before even writing said albums. 

As for this song, it's one of the better tracks on the album although it's really because it plays close to "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd in it's sound and even if Ariana's vocals sound tired and bored, I can tolerate this. Good song. At least, it's better than...

5. "Petal" by Ariana Grande.

I knew this was going to be bad when somebody mentioned that it sounded like "7 Rings", a song that I still hate to this very day, and yeah this does remind me of "7 Rings" with that drippy synth line and production that can barely hold itself together and Ariana sounding frail as all hell in the mix. 

I hope time away helps Ariana to get better and time erases this song. 

It's easy worst of the week. "Bad Things (Bunny Hop)" gets best of the week. Keeping the reviews short and sharp this week, really felt uncomfortable even talking about Ariana right now especially with how horrible the discourse around her has been. 

Next week...huh...the fall out and what could be a quiet week. Stay tuned for the next episode of "Pretty Fly (For 1999)" as well!

Pretty Fly (For 1999) 8th August 2 Times in the Wild West.

Alright so we have a bit of a quieter week this week, not complaining as things are for once a bit crazy on the 2026 ARIA singles chart this week with the Ariana Grande album bomb but we still have a full top 50 to look at here so let's dive into the top ten where the top two remain the same as last week with "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam remaining at the number one spot for a second week ahead of "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez remaining at number two.

Rising two spots to number three is "Boom Boom Boom Boom!" by The Vengaboys because of course it took advantages of the weaknesses of "Sometimes" by Britney Spears which slipped one spot to number four and "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer which fell back to number five. 

Shania Twain's "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" remained at number six this week while "Whien You Say Nothing at All" by Ronan Keating continued it's rise up two to number seven, it did push past "Say It Once" by Ultra down one to number eight, 

"Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot climbed four slots into the top ten at number nine which is pretty sweet for this song while finally "Beautiful Stranger" by Madonna is starting to develop growing pains down four to number ten.

Losers

We did see some big losers this week with "What It's Like" by Everlast down seven to fifty,. "The Animal Song" by Savage Garden dropping from forty two to forty nine and "Honey to the Bee" by Billie Piper hitting the skids down from thirty five to forty eight...ouch!

TLC's "No Scrubs" dived eight to forty one while Geri Halliwell's "Look At Me" slumped seven to thirty and "Why Don't You Get a Job?" by The Offspring slumped from twenty to twenty eight. 

Gains

Not too many major gains this week with "Weir" by Killing Heidi up six slots to thirty eight but the big gain of the week belonged to "All Star" by Smash Mouth as it smashed it's way up from thirty one to seventeen. I am happy about both these songs gaining.

However can we please stop it with the gains for "Stay the Same" by Joey McIntyre, it's up from thirty nine to thirty one this week. Please stop. 

Re-Entries

Two re-entries this week with "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" by Silverchair back at number forty three and weirdly enough Orgy's cover of "Blue Monday" came back at forty five.

New Entries

Just two new entries this week beginning with///

40. "2 Times" by Ann Lee

1999 feels like the year of the chart debutant because we have another one this week in the form of English singer Ann Lee, this being her lead single and well, I am not really digging this at all mostly because Lee's vocals just do not have  any kind of presence or power to them that make me want to go back to this song again. For a dance/electronic song to sound this small scale and kind of twee sounding right down to the high pitched do dos. Not a song I really want sticking around...next!

11. "Wi;d Wild West" by Will Smith feat. Dru Hill & Kool Mo Dee

So we finally got a new single from Will Smith following on from the success of "Miami" earlier in 1999 with this song created for a steampunk film of the same name that Smith starring in and indeed the song is all about Smith's character in the movie Jim West and how he is such a tough stern agent that he cannot be messed with and the song actually samples Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit "I Wiish" rather prominently and you know what? I had an insane amount of fun with this song, Will Smith slides straight into character effortlessly...this is good fun...check it out.

Obviously best of the week goes to "Wild Wild West". Worst of the week going to "2 Times" by Ann Lee because I really cannot stand that song. 

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart Review. 3rd August. The One Where Forgettable Is the Word

 So this week is a stagnant sludge pool, the top ten barely moved at all apart from the new entry with some questionable quality that entered in the lowe half of the top ten that forced some change but anyway let's dive into it because for yet another week, it's "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley at number one and again, it's still dominant on sales and streaming that nothing is getting close to it. 

"Man I Need" by Olivia Dean remains at number two because it's on the downswing on streaming, "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender glued to number three, "Ordinary" by Alex Warren at number four, "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo at number five, "Hate that I Made You Love Me" by Ariana Grande and "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd remained all remained in the same positions as last week.

The new entry at number eight this week is "Animal" by Katseye, we'll get to the dubious quality of this song later but it's here because of some tremendous streaming so much so it pushed "The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo back to number ninne. 

Finally into the top ten is "Dai Dai" by Shakira and Burna Boy at number ten, I don't expect this song to last in the top ten.

Losers

"Freaked Out' by Fat Papi and Prodshushy slipped seven spots off its debut to forty nine. 

A whole slew of songs slipped six spots this week including "Kingdom of Fear" by Cameron Whitcomb to forty six, "Honeybee" by Olivia Rodrigo to forty (this is likely the next single that Olivia recorded a video for IMO), "I Knew It/ I Knew You" by Taylor Swift dropped to twenty eight and "Daisies" by Justin Bieber to twenty four

Drop Outs

Four songs dropped out this week with three of them being Gracie Abrams songs in "Hit the Wall", "Good Reason" and "Look At My Life". 

The only other drop out is unfortunately "My Body Isn't Ready" by Sombr, would have liked to have seen this stick around and become a hit. 

Gains

So I am not wild about "Great Expectation" by Sienna Spiro being the biggest gainer of the week up nine to thirty nine bit "Material Lover" did go up six to forty one.

Heck, I am also happy that "Broken Window Serenade" by Whiskey Myers climbed six to forty four.

Re Entries

Two returns this week with "Undressed" by Sombr back at forty seven while "I Just Might" by Bruno Mars returns at forty five

New Entries

Two new entries this week beginning with...

33. "Been By Now" by Morgan Wallen

It;'s probably well worth noting before going any further that I do  not expect either of this week's new entries to stick around much beyond this week and given this Morgan Wallen song debuted low, I do wonder if Australian audiences have moved on from him or maybe its because this song is pretty damn forgettablesludge that doesn't even bother to try to be a country song, it's a pop song and one that doesn't even flatter Morgan Wallen's vocals which sound rougher than they should over the muddy as hell mix. 

As for the content, it's yet aoother sour as hell break up song except the relationship appears to be stuck in some limbo where Wallen realizes that if this girl had of wanted to be with him, they'd be together by now, it just comes across as whiny and when the production is not all interesting...yeah, I'd hope this doesn't stick around.

8. "Animal" by Katseye.

Oh god...I was hoping for something other than Katseye being the other new entry this week, this group's music is just banal noise to me half the time especially this year where they released god damn "Internet Girl" which sounded like Onision's leftovers where he moved on from bananas to zucchini howver much to my surprise, "Animal" is actually fine? It's an Ed Sheeran penned song that I guess he felt weird about recording given the content of the song being what it is and the fact that he is a married father of two, a song about being an animal in the bedroom probably wouldn't go down well given how the general republic reacted to "Shape of You" in 2017 so he handed this song to Katseye.

It turned out to be a good decision for both Katseye and Sheeran, Katseye are definitely more suited to conventional pop music rather than their brand of somewhat chaotic k-pop that doesn't flatter the girls voices whatsoever,,,now Katseye still doesn't know how to harmonise properly but this is a decent improvement on their past efforts, check this out.

"Animal" by Katseye gets best of the week while "Been By Now" by Morgan Wallen gets worst of the week because that song is just forgettable and honestly worthless.

Next week...Ariana Grande album bomb and the discourse surrounding Ariana.

Pretty Fly (For 1999). 1st August. I Don't Want Saltwater In a Wait Weir

 No stuffing around this week, let's jump right into it because we do have a new number one...shame it's "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam...yeah, I still do not like this song, it feels nothing like what Pearl Jam are capable of but it had a great sales week to dethrone "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez. "If You Had My Love" slipped bac to number two,.

"Sometimes" by Britney Spears also slipped back to number three as a result and "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer back to number four. 

Rising four slots to number five is "Boom Boom Boom Boom!" by Vengaboys while "Man! I Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain rebounded one to number six.

All this pushed "Say It Once" by Ultra back two slots to number seven likewise for Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" which also slipped two to number eight.

Much to my surprise rising five of it's debut last week is "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating! Must be 'Notting Hill" being popular causing that.

Finally "Get Set" by Taxiride fell two to number ten. Hoping it can hang around in the top ten a lot longer. 

Losers.

"Dear Mama" by 2Pac slipped nine spots to forty six this week while former number one "No Scrubs" by TLC slumped from sixteen to thirty three. 

Gains

The gains this week are on the pretty awful front and they are both from New Kids on the Block alumni with Jordan Knight's "Give It to You" up nine to thirty six while "Stay The Same" by Joey McIntyre rose eleven to thirty nine. Ugh.

Re-Entries

Just one return this week courtesy of "Shimmer" by Shawn Mullins at forty seven.

New Entries

Four new entries this week beginning with...

50. "Happiness" by Regurgitator

The ead single for Regurgitator's third album "....art" and honestly given how much a single like "Polyester Girl" was fucking amazing I was curious to see what this Australian group had up their sleeves for this album and this is a pretty interesting track mostly due to it sounding very indie rock with that guitar and while I do wish the vocals were a bit louder in the mix, I do think this somewhat fits with what the song is going for because the content is all about finding small superficial distractions as coping mechanisms in a world that is increasingly more demanding and the news cycle seems to be getting worse...which yeah feels way too real. 

44. "Weir" by Killing Heidi

The Australian theme continues because we have the debut single from rock band Killing Heidi, it's the lead single for the band's debut album "Reflector" and wow, this song doesn't doesn't waste it's time getting going as the band's frontwoman Ella Hooper croons her way through the verses but absolutely lets rip on the chorus and she sounds incredible. The song appears to be about friendship, growing up and spending time wth those friends on a waterway like the town reservoir or weir. Sweet song, hope this becomes a hit.

34. "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole

So here have the theme song for the hit TV show Dawsons Creek coming from American singer-songwriter and well I am not really feeling this song, Cole has a nice sounding voice but this instrumental is not doing much for me at all here, I do wish it did something more than just chug along because otherwise it's a pretty standard singer/songwriter cut where Cole sings about not letting history infect the future but live a full and present life in the current times. It's fine enough but I am going to forget this pretty quickly even with it being a TV show theme.

32. "Saltwater" by Chicane feat. Maire Brennan

Ending off the week with an electronic trance track from English producer Chicane who brought Irish singer Maire Brennan onto this song and...this is pretty good. Chicane restrains himself enough on the production to allow Brennan's vocals the space to grow and swell as the song needs, she sounds absolutely incredible. As for the content, well it's more a song that just feels the ocean and it's vibe rather than having any sort of coherent message with lyrics but for electronic/trance songs, this is pretty good. Check it out.

That wraps the week and I dispensing with Worst of the Week for this week as none of these songs really deserve it. Best of the week in a close race is going to "Weir" by Killing Heidi.

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart Review 27th July. The One With Gracie's "Impact" and World Cup spawns Dai Dai return

 Alright, no time to waste as I am getting this out considerably late this week (thanks procrastinaton and Commonwealth Games) so let's jump straight into the top ten where for yet another week, it's "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley at number one and look, it might take a song from Ariana Grande's new album to dislodge this song because it's still insanely strong across the board on sales and streaming. 

Nothing behind it is even remotely capable of challenging with "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean remaining at number two and "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean steady at number three.

Continuing it's unfortunate rebound is "Ordinary" by Alex Warren up two slots to number four pushing "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo back to number five. 

"Hate That I Made You Love Me" by Ariana Grande slipped one spot back to number six but again, it's probably going to be the song that likely challenges our current number one next week. 

Rebounding one slot to number seven is "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd although it would be nice if this song disappeared off the face of the earth, easily one of the worst songs of the year thus far.

Makes it worse when "Earrings" pushes "The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo back to number eight.  "The Cure" deserves better, Australia...come on.

Holding at number nine is "Dracula" by Tame Impala while Bella Kay returns to the top ten up two slots to number ten with "IloveitIloveitIloveit" 

Losers

"Honeybee" by Olivia Rodrigo slipped seven to thirty four, it's the last of the album tracks on the chart although that wasn't the biggest loser of the week that title belongs to Sombr with "My Body Isn't Ready" sliding thirteen to  number forty three. 

"Midnight Sun" by Zara Larsson fell seven to forty five and "Great Expectations" by Sienna Spiro also thankfully slipping seven to forty eight.

Drop Outs

So seven songs took exits this week with Olivia Rodrigo album tracks "expectations" and "maggots for btains" taking their exits alongside "Undressed" by Sombr, "I Just Might" by Bruno Mars, "American Girls" by Harry Styles, "Opalite" by Taylor Swift and "Fever Dream" by Alex Warren. 

Gains

Not much in the way of gains this week but we did see a nice seven place gain for "Kingdom of Fear" by Cameron Whitcomb to forty which I am reasonably happy about.

Although I am less thrilled that "Bloodstream" by Alyssa Grace which jumped six spots to thirty but oh well swings, roundabouts and all that jazz.

Re-Entries

Three returns this week with "Sailor Song" by Gigi Perez back at forty nine. album release saw "Hit the Wall" by Gracie Abrams back at twenty eight while the recent football World Cup saw "Dai Dai" by Shakira and Burna Boy back at nnumber twelve.

New Entries

Four new entries this week beginning with..

50. "Broken Window Serenade" by Whiskey Myers

So this finally broke through...it's been hanging around on the Spotify chart long enough and frankly I am surprised it's here given Whiskey Myers is an American southern rock and country act with this song released in 2011 from their album "Firewater" and it went viral so how is this song? Well turns out that this is pretty darn great! I love the harmonica and the gentle knock of the percussion over the guitar and while the vocals take some getting used to, they don't take me out of the song especially as this song in it's content is extremely dark detailing this woman who dreamt of life as a Hollywood star but instead sunk into abuse, addiction and depression, addiction would ultimately end this woman's life early and the narrator would wind up placing flowers on her grave...incredibly sad and it hits hard. Damn great song, glad it's here, check it out!

46. "Good Reason" by Gracie Abrams

So I have heard Gracie Abrams new album "Daughter from Hell" and in all honesty, it's probably one of the most forgettable, milquetoast pop albums of 2026, Gracie Abrams struggles to distinguish herself from the rest of the women vying for the public's attention in ther world of pop music and yeah, I would say that it's the case with this song as she continues to wander into the Taylor Swift lane here and remind me that I would really be rather listening to any song from "Midnights" or "Evermore" compared to this song but it's not really a song worth hating, the content is pretty good where Gracie admits she has no good reason for breaking her partner's heart via ending the relationship so yeah, this isn't really all that terrible but it's not great either.

42. "Freaked Out" by Fat Papi, prodshushy

Oh boy, how to explain this one...so Fat Papi is a Kurdish-New Zealand rapper and producer with this song somehow going viral hence it winding up on the singles chart this week and look, I think the instrrumental is pretty solid and the hook absolutely goes off and is quite catchy even if the content really isn't all that interesting, all about this attractive confident woman who moves in an impressive and confident manner and can handle her own money and success. Either way, I am not sure the song is going to stick around long term because it does feel like a bit of a fart in the wind song but I wouldn't mind for now. 

32. "Look At My Life" by Gracie Abrams

Finally wrapping the week with the second of the two Gracie Abrams songs to debut new this week and again, I am not wowed by this and not even the content can save this song because again Gracie Abrams has all the personality of a fucking pumpkin seed when she's singing about her life as a "famous" person that said she isn't helped by the production from Aaron Dessner here because the verses don't lead to a satisfying build into the chorus and again this song really can't escape being a Taylor Swift lesser cut that would have been left on the cutting room floor for Taylor but wound up on a Gracie Abrams album out of sheer indifference, we can do so much better for female pop music.

That was our week and Gracie Abrams gets the worst of the week for "Look at My Life". Whiskey Myers easily runs away with the best of the week for "Broken Window Serenade"

Next week could be pretty damn terrible...Katseye and Morgan Wallen...brace yourselves.

Pretty Fly (For 1999) 25th July. The Hardest Saddest Silence is A Look on Blue Monday

 So things feel on the precipice of change on the chart and I am not sure why because sure...glancing at our top ten, "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez remains at number one despite somewhat dipping sales numbers, it did manage to hold off a charge from "Sometimes" by Britney Spears which climbed one spot to number two.

This pushed "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer fall back to number three while "Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam remains stalled at number four.

"Say It Once" by Ultra continues it's climb up the chart by rising on to number five whie "Beautiful Stranger" by Madonna recovered two slots to number six. 

"Man! I Feel Like A Woman" by Shania Twain felt like staying at number seven this week, 

One of the biggest gains of the belongs to Taxiride as "Get Set" jumped a massive TWENTY places to number eight this week. Awesome to see as that song is absolutely great, 

Not so great is the ode to orgasms that is "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by The Vengaboys which jumped from fifteen to number nine.

Also rising into the top ten is "Westside" by TQ which rose three places to numbe ten this week.

Losers

We start the losers with Eminem's "Hi! My Name Is" which stumbled ten spots to forty nine, we need that follow up single soon, Em. 

Savage Garden's "The Animal Song" slumped from thirty four to forty eight while Cher's "Strong Enough" was hit with a ten place plunge to forty seven.

"We Like to Party (The Vengabus)" by The Vengaboys utterly collapsed from twenty five to forty one. Sugar Ray's "Every Morning" hit the snooze button so it went down eight to forty.

If you are wondering what happened to "Don't Cry" by Human Nature given it debuted at number five last week...well it fell from five to twenty nine this week...ouch.

"Thank ABBA For the Music" by Steps, Tina Cousins, Cleopatra, B*Witched and Billie Piper fell nine to twenty eight. 

Gains

So I already mentioned the big rise to number eight for "Get Set" by Taxiride but we also saw a ten place gain off its debut to fourteen for "When You Say Nothing at All" by Ronan Keating.

"Scar Tissue" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers climbed from twenty two to fifteen....sigh...wish I actually liked that song more than I do. 

Westlife's "Swear It Again" breaks into the top twenty up twelve to eighteen this week while "All Star" by Smash Mouth got a ten spot bounce to thirty one

New Entries

Five new entries beginning with...

46. "Saddest Song" by Cherry

We're beginning with the third single from Australian five piece girl group Cherry with this song having been written by acclaimed American song writer Diane Warren that was originally meant for a US r'n'b group called Not Real but I think Cherry's version kind of works especially with the elegant production that does have that element of sadness about it as the group sings about the heartache and pain of hearing a song that meant so much to them when they were in a relationship and now that relationship is over, hearing that song on the radio hurts. Decent pop song but in a year where girl group pop songs are everywhere....yeah I am not sure how much this is going to be remembered.

36. "Blue Monday" by Orgy

So Orgy are an American rock band with their first song to hit the ARIA singles chart being this cover of New Order's 1983 hit "Blue Monday" and well...it sure does exist now, doesn't it?  I have never been one for the original song from New Order but I'll take the somewhat slower and gentler delivery of the lyrics in the vocals over having the lyrics shouted at me like Orgy do in the cover. I really do not have much to say about this so I will move on.

35. "The Hardest Thing" by 98 Degrees

Another debutant act on the chart from out of the USA this week courtesy of four piece boy group 98 Degrees and well, this is where I might need to apologise to Boyzone because dear god, this song might be one of the most boring yet infuriating song about cheating where on the verses he says its killing him to be with his mistress but then says on the hook that it's "the hardest thing" to tell his partner that he doesn't love her any more and show no emotion when she breaks down and starts crying...dude, you are an asshole in song form. Get this dirge shithole of a song off the charts.

25. "Have  A Look"  by Vanessa Amorosi

Beginning to feel like the week of the debutant because we have an Australian singer songwriter Vanessa Amorosi making her first mark on the ARIA singles chart and yeah...I'm kind of not surprised that this debuted as high as high as this because my goodness, Amorosi is an absolute powerhouse vocallist, she can absolutely belt with the best of them especially on the hook where she wants an ex back with her after seeing him with somebody else over this really tight pop/rock groove that Amorosi sounds at home over this production...great song!

19. "Silence" by Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan

Ending the week with a bit of Canadian trance courtesy of producer Delerium who has brought Canadian music royalty Sarah McLachlan on board for this cut and yeah, this is really good too. I just wish Sarah's vocals were slightly louder in the mix over the instrumentation but she sounds ethereal here. Really this does remind me of big beat era early nineties where this song would not be out of place. Damn good song. 

That wraps our week and the worst of the week is pretty easy, that's going to "The Hardest Thing" by 98 Degrees...just spare me from that horrible turd of a song...please.

However the best of the week is a lot harder with that going to "Have A Look" by Vanessa Amorosi...just beating Delerium and Sarah McLachlan...it was close.

ARIA Singles Top 50 Chart Review. 20th July. The One with a Kingdom Fear of Great Expectations

 This week could be worse...I guess...we didn't get hit by the Future album bomb which is something incredibly merciful but what we got instead is..odd to say the least. Let's get to our top ten where of course for a sixth week, it's "Choosin' Texas" by Ella Langley at number one, it continues to rule sales and streaming with a rod of iron.

The top six actually held position this week with "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean at number two, "Rein Me In" by Sam Fender and Olvia Dean at number three, "Stupid Song" by Olivia Rodrigo at number four, "Hate That I Made You Love Me" by Ariana Grande at number five and "Ordinary" by Alex Warren at number six.

"The Cure" by Olivia Rodrigo rebounded one spot to number seven after getting a small streaming bump, it pushed past "Earrings" by Malcolm Todd which slipped one spot to number eight.

Finally "Dracula" by Tame Impala and "Drop Dead" by Olivia Rodrigo held firm at nine and ten respectively.

Losers

Most of the big losers are still Olivia Rodrigo album tracks with "Maggots for Brains" down nine to forty fpir, "Expectations" slipped seven to forty three and "Honeybee" down ten to twenty seven.

The only non Olivia Rodrigo major loser this week was "I Knew It. I Knew You" by Taylor Swift slipped seven to eighteen.

Drop Outs

Four songs took their exits this week with :"Girls" by Kid Laroi finally making it's exit permanent to the On Replay singles chart.
Also gone are "What Is Wrong With Me?" by Olivia Rodrigo and Robert Smith, "Dai Dai" by Shakira and Burna Boy and "Go" by Chemical Brothers (I suspect this will make the year end)

Gains

Noah Kahan's "Orbiter" climbed seven slots this week to number thirty five. Zara Larsson's "Midnight Sun" jumped six spots to thirty eight.

Losers

Two returns this week with "Material Lover" by Sienna Spiro back at forty two while "Bloodstream" by Alyssa Grace returned at number thirty six. 

New Entries

Two new entries, beginning with...

47. "Kingdom of Fear" by Cameron Whitcomb

So this is an interesting one with this being Cameron Whitcomb;s first song to cross over onto the ARIA singles chart, Whitcomb is a Canadian singer/songwritetr who has notched some decent success in Canada but is only just starting to find his footing worldwide courtesy of this song and yeah, it's a solid enough singer/songwriter cut similar to something that Noah Kahan would write and sing, helps that the instrumental and production is pretty solid with those somewhat twangy sounding guitars and that fast paced drumming that works for me.

As for the content of the song? The dissonance between saying "Yeah, I'm good" while internally struggling with self doubt and anxiety so the content here does cut a lot deeper for me given my personal issues...this is a pretty good song...check it out.

41. "Great Expectations" by Sienna Spiro

so this is the only new Sienna Spiro song from that album to hit the ARIA singles chart and given the previous single "Die On This Hill" is dead set one of the worst songs of 2026 so I have rock bottom expectations for this song and well...those rock bottom expectations were met and then satisfied because my goodness, this song is a dreary bore and slog of a song where she sings about falling in love with the idea of someone rather than who that person actually is which on paper is an interesting idea, just a shame the song does nothing interesting and Spiro sounds like she's whining for most of the song.

I'll pass. 

That was the week and best and worst fall out easy with the worst going to "Great Expectation" by Sienna Spiro and the  best going to "Kingdom of Fear" by Cameron Whitcomb.

Next week...ugh...Gracie Abrams album dropped so we'll probably wind up with something from that charting, we'll have to see. 

Pretty Fly (For 1999). 18th July. Don't Cry Say Nothing At All, Sweet Chocolate.

We have a busy week at hand here, up and down the chart and the six new entries hitting the chart including one in the top ten...in fact, the only place where there wasn't any movement was in the top three because for a second week "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez sits at number one, "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer at number two and "Sometimes" by Britney Spears at number three.

"Last Kiss" by Pearl Jam rebounded one spot to number four while there's a new entry at number five from Human Nature called "Don't Cry", we'll get to it in the new entries but it did some impressive numbers on sales to land this high of a debut.

All this caused "Say It Once" by Ultra to fall two spots to number six while "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" by Shania Twain stumbled one spot to number seven. Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" met the same fate sliding one spot to number eight.

"I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys held steady at number nine and Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" stalled at number ten.

Losers

In a week where we have six new entries, a lot of songs took big tumbles this week starting with "Time of Our Lives" by Marcia Hines which fell from thirty two to forty nine this week...seems the party may well be over for this song. 

Similar case for Shawn Mullins song "Shimmer" as it plummeted from thirty nine to forty eight this week while "Get What You Give" by The New Radicals unfortunately tumbled hard from twenty five to forty seven. Ouch!,

Eminem's "Hi! My Name is" slipped nine to thirty nine while Cher's "Strong Enough" became weak enough to fall eight to thirty seven this week. 

"The Animal Song" by Savage Garden dived from twenty seven to thirty four. 

"Every Morning" by Sugar Ray woke up to a ten place fall to thirty two while Lenny Kravitz experienced turbulence with "Fly Away" dropping seven slots to thirty one.

A new Vengaboys song has arrived in the new entries as their previous hit "We Like to Party (The Vengabus)" dives ten to twenty five. 

ATB's "9pm (Til I Come)" is heading in the wrong direction (for me) down seven to twenty one.

Gains

So tragically our biggest gain this week is the underwhelming "These Are The Times" by Dru Hill which somehow got an eight place gain to twenty three...rrally, Australia?

Also getting a boost this week is Taxiride's "Get Set" up from thirty four to twenty eight while "Swear It Again" by Westlife climbed six to thirty.

Re-Entries

Why is our lone return "Stay The Same" by Joey McIntyre? I thought we all agreed at the last chart board meeting that this song was forgettable dross...I served the tea and biscuits, remember?

New Entries

Six new entries this week beginning with...

41. "All Star" by Smash Mouth

The lead single from Smash Mouth's album "Astro Lonnge" and apparently this song draws infltouence from Sugar Ray and Third Eye Blind as the band looked to write a song dedicated to those in the world who are deemed to be outcasts or this really incredibly stupid but otherwise upbeat narrator who rolls with the punches and takes the low blows and comes out the other side, realizing that he or she has so many reasons to live even though they aren't all that smart or in with the popular crowd. This song will definitely hit people in the feels especially given how sticky the hook is and the vocal delivery on the verses is actually pretty fun too so yeah...check this out! 

35. "Insane in the Brain" by Jason Nevins v Cypress Hill

Moving onto what I guess can be classified as a Jason Nevins remix of Cypress Hill's 1993 song "Insane In the Brain" with the original song (that only peaked at number 40) being built around multiple samples including Jamrs Brown grunting of all things but hey, it's a got a nice West Coast hip hop groove that goes down well, as for the content...it's a diss track aimed at Chubb Rock where Cypress Hill accuse him of acting recklessly or irrational. 

Jason Nevins remix is fine enough but I am not going to be thrilled if this becomes a bigger hit than the original...that's all. 

24. When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating

We have a member of Boyzone going solo with this being a cover of a 1989 Keith Whitley song for the soundtrack of the film Notting Hill. Whitley's version feels like it's coming from this sweet, sincere spot where he is saying that her body language is enough for him to know what she's trying to say without saying a word, it does hit the mark for me especially with the paired back instrumentation.

Keating's version is fine enough until that god awfful pipe breakdown at the end which sounds so shrill and piercing that it takes me out of the song. This cover could have been so much better without that god damn noise playing up some kind of imaginary drama or crescendo which was completely unnecessary. next!

15. "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!" by Vengaboys

So we were bound to get a follow up to "We Like to Party (The Vengabus)" from The Vengaboys and well..this really isn't all that good. Lyrically the song is about her wanting to help this friend to forget his problems so they go about this by "spending forever in her room" using boom boom boom boom as a double entendre for sex which frankly is not original considering Paul Lekakis told the world in 1987 he wants a woman back in his room for a little boom boom. Frankly, it's all a bit cringe.

As for the actual music, it doesn't really have any sexual or kinetic energy to it rather a partyish sound bit with some frankly creepy sounding voice effects in there too. 

14. "Sweet Like Chocolate" by Shanks & Bigfoot

Heading across to the UK and this act called Shanks & Bigfoot, a garage producer duo who have been active since 1997 with this song being their first to hit the ARIA singles chart and well...this song is actually pretty good especially with that jaunty opening that then opens into faster percussion and while I am not a huge fan of the vocals on this song, I get why they kind of work, it's a love song that digs into this loved one's presence being rich, comforting and addictive which as a chocolate lover I do get. 

Yeah, you know what? This is really cute, check it out!

5. "Don't Cry" by Human Nature.

Finishing a rather long week with Aussie quartet Human Nature and the latest single from "Counting Down". A quite funky and upbeat song that kind of betrays how the content is about the breakdown of a relationship and realizing that the relationship was fun while it lasted but now it's time to go separate ways and see what else is out there because its not like the relationship is going to be revived like some kind of miracle.

Chorus is catchy and as usual, Human Nature's harmonies are on point, great song!

Great to end the week on a high with two good to great songs, I am going to give best of the week to Human Nature for "Don't Cry"

As for the worst...yeah, it wasn't going to be anything other than "Boom Boom Boom Boom" by The Vengaboys.