Clean Bandit and Michael Buble see in the New Year as champions of Australia’s charts.
Buble’s perennial holiday favorite Christmas (Reprise/Warner) rises 2-1 on the ARIA Albums Chart this week, published Saturday (Dec. 31), a feat which means the set has held No. 1 on or around every Christmas since its release in 2011.
Christmas was recently credited double-diamond and has spent 14 total weeks at the top Down Under. The set benefited from the recent screening of Bublé’s Live At The BBC Christmas TV special on free-to-air Network Ten.
The new albums survey sees John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John’s Friends For Christmas (Sony) dip 1-2; Adele’s 25 (XL/Inertia) improves 4-3; The Rolling Stones’ Blue & Lonesome (Polydor/Universal) slips 3-4 and Keith Urban’s Ripcord (Capitol/EMI) stays at No. 5.
George Michael’s untimely death on Christmas day has seen a handful of the English singer’s albums and singles return to the chart. The former Wham! singer’s Twenty Five (Sony) returns at No. 11, just down from its No. 9 peak in March 2010, while Ladies & Gentlemen... The Best Of... (Epic/Sony) reenters the chart at No. 14.
Meanwhile, British electronic trio Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye” (EastWest/Warner) start a third week at No. 1 on the latest ARIA Singles Chart by again holding off The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (Republic/Universal). The Canadian R&B star’s track claims an unwanted record of spending the most weeks (11) at No. 2 without ever climbing to the chart peak (the track does, however lead ARIA’s Streaming Singles survey).
Bruno Mars “24K Magic” (Atlantic/Warner) remains at No. 3 on the ARIA Singles Chart; The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey’s “Closer” (Columbia/Sony) rises 9-4 (and is one of the U.S. EDM act’s three tracks in the top 50) while Zayn & Taylor Swift’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” (Republic/Universal) slips 4-5.
George Michael’s passing contributed to Wham!’s double-platinum hit “Last Christmas” (Sony) bouncing back into the singles chart at No. 23 while his solo 1987 hit “Faith” (Sony) returns at No. 50.