Cold Chisel carves out another leader on Australia’s albums chart, as the homegrown rock legends blast to No. 1 with 50 Years – The Best (via Cold Chisel/Universal Music Australia).
The career retrospective is Chisel’s sixth chart-topper and 18th top 10 appearance on the albums tally.
Formed in Adelaide, South Australia back in 1973, Chisel is the prototype Aussie rock band, both a household name and a national treasure. The band was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1993, and frontman Jimmy Barnes was inducted as a solo artist in 2005.
With this latest chart champ, Barnes extends his lead as the artist with the all-time collection of ARIA No. 1s at 21, a tally that includes 15 solo best-sellers.
The result is a welcome tonic for Barnes, who is recovering following another trip to the operating theater, and a cause for celebration for the Australian music industry. 50 Years – The Best is the fourth consecutive No. 1 on the ARIA Chart by an Australian act, following new releases from Lime Cordiale, Tones & I, and Amy Shark.
The latest ARIA chart, published Friday, Aug, 23, marks the longest run for local acts at No. 1 since late 2020, when Midnight Oil, Kylie Minogue and AC/DC reigned for a combined six weeks, ARIA notes.
You’d have to go back almost a decade, to 2015, for the last time when four or more different Aussie acts consecutively ruled the chart. On that occasion, Parkway Drive, triple j Like A Version 11, Boy & Bear, Hillsong and 5 Seconds Of Summer did so, for a five-week stretch.
“It’s a big day for chart numbers,” comments ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd. “Huge congratulations to Cold Chisel for a phenomenal sixth No. 1 and 18th top 10 album. It’s an extremely exclusive club of artists who can rival the band’s storied legacy and impact on Australian music over 50 years. Congratulations again to the band, their team and everyone who has contributed to such a triumph.”
Chisel will dish out the hits on a 50th anniversary national tour later in the year, The Big Five-0, which sold over 200,000 tickets sold in a matter of hours, reps say.
Coming in at No. 2 is Post Malone with his first collaboration-stacked country album, F-1 Trillion (Universal).
It’s Posty’s seventh top 10 in Australia, after Stoney (No. 5 in 2016), Beerbongs & Bentleys (No. 1 in 2018), Hollywood’s Bleeding (No. 1 in 2019), Twelve Carat Toothache (No. 2 in 2022), Austin (No. 2 in 2022) and The Diamond Collection (No. 3 in 2023).
Completing the top three is Billie Eilish’s former leader Hit Me Hard Hit Me Soft (Interscope/Universal), down 2-3.
Also new to the chart is Falling In Reverse with U.S. rock band’s fifth studio album Popular Monster (Epitaph Records/RKT). It arrives at No. 8, their career equal-best chart position (Just Like You also peaked at No. 8 in 2015).
Meanwhile, Eilish’s hit “Birds Of A Feather” holds at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, ahead of Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (unchanged at No. 2 via Empire) and Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” (Universal), up 5-3.
Finally, the top new release on the ARIA Singles Chart — indeed, the only new release in the top 50 — belongs to Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, as their duet “Die With A Smile” debuts at No. 10.
