As Barbie blows up box-offices around the globe, the official soundtrack struts its way to No. 1 in Australia.
Barbie The Album (via Atlantic/Warner) opens at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, published July 28, while several tracks from it climb the singles survey. The big gainers include Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” up 8-2; “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua soaring 23-3; and “Dance The Night” by Dua Lipa shimmying 27-6.
Barbie, which features “Journey to the Real Word” by Tame Impala, and “Forever & Again” by The Kid Laroi, both artists from the land Down Under, is the first soundtrack to lead the national tally since Disney’s Encanto completed an 11-week climb to the top in March 2022, ARIA reports.
Starring Aussie actor Margot Robbie in the titular role, Barbie raked in a “dazzling global debut of $356.3 million,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, a sum that includes a biggest opening ever for a Warner Bros. title in Australia ($14.6 million).
Jack is back on the albums chart. John Farnham, the legendary, ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted singer, has four albums in the top 100, powered by the July 24 TV debut of the documentary John Farnham: Finding The Voice.
Leading the charge is his Greatest Hits (Sony), vaulting 169-9 for a new peak position. Farnham, who has battled health issues in recent months, boasts the highest-selling album ever in Australia by a domestic artist, 1986’s Whispering Jack. The album spent 25 weeks at No. 1 following its release, en route to shifting more than one million copies. Whispering Jack reenters the ARIA Chart at No. 41.
Also debuting on the latest tally is Blood Red (Sony) from Australian folk-rock duo Busby Marou, new at No. 14; and River Runs Dry (Universal) by Cold Chisel’s Ian Moss, new at No. 18.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, “Sprinter” (Virgin/Universal) by Dave and Central Cee outraces the pack for a seventh non-consecutive week at No. 1.
The top debut this week belongs to Travis Scott, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, whose collaborative single “K-Pop” (Epic/Sony) is new at No. 27. “K-Pop” is lifted from Scott’s new album Utopia, which dropped Friday.
There’s some K-pop in the top 20, specifically, cuts from NewJeans’ second EP Get Up (ING/Universal). All six tracks from the EP impact the top 100, including “Super Shy,” up 26-14 for a new peak position, while “ETA” bows at No. 34, “Cool With You” starts at No. 40, “ASAP” is at No. 64 and the title track appears at No. 82. The girl group has an Aussie connection: Danielle Marsh is born-and-raised in Newcastle, Australia, and Hanni Pham is a Melbourne native, who featured on The Voice Kids Australia back in 2014.
