Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine (Universal) enjoys the brightest possible start in Australia, where it debuts at No. 1, for her fifth leader.
All seven of the U.S. pop star’s album have landed in the ARIA top 10, including No. 1s for My Everything (in 2014), Dangerous Woman (2016), Sweetener (2018) and Thank U, Next (2019).
Eternal Sunshine also shines bright on the ARIA Singles Chart, yielding a string of new entries including “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love),” opening at No. 2 for the week’s top debut and her 20th top 10 appearance in these parts; “Bye” (No. 19); the title track (No. 22); “Supernatural” (No. 18); “True Story” (No. 39) and “Wish I Hated You” (No. 46), while her former No. 2 hit “Yes, And?” rockets 34-11.
With her No. 1 start, Grande ends Taylor Swift’s weeks-long lockup of the top 5. Still, Swift dominates the pointy end of the albums chart, published Friday, March 15, with five of the top 10, led by 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (via Universal), holding at No. 2.
Meanwhile, Australian singer and TV presenter Ricki-Lee bows at No. 3 with On My Own (AWAL), her fifth studio album and first in 10 years. That’s a new career peak for Ricki-Lee, whose albums have all impacted the ARIA top 40, with Fear & Freedom (from 2012) her previous best at No. 7. Ricki-Lee is host of Australia Idol, the long-running reality TV series on which she got her break as a contestant 20 years ago.
Controversial Australian rock act Sticky Fingers enjoy a new peak position for Caress Your Soul (Sureshaker/MGM), which reenters the chart at No. 11 following the release of a 10th anniversary edition. The album previously peaked at No. 39 back in 2013.
Legendary British heavy metal band Judas Priest bows at No. 16 with Invincible Shield (Columbia/Sony), their 19th studio album. Judas Priest has never cracked the top 10 on the ARIA Chart. The closest they got was with Firepower, which blasted to No. 12 in 2018.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, American viral star Benson Boone holds at No. 1 for a second week with “Beautiful Things” (Warner), ahead of Grande’s “We Can’t Be Friends” and Djo‘s “End of Beginning” (AWAL), respectively. “End of Beginning” lifts 5-3, a new peak position for Djo, the music project of Stranger Things star Joseph Keery.
