Top-Five Debut For Megan Washington On ARIA Albums Chart

Resurgent songstress Megan Washington has claimed the highest debut placing for an Australian artist on this week's ARIA Albums Chart, with her long-awaited sophomore full-length There There claiming #5 upon entry.

However, the local chanteuse was a fair way off the wider top performers for the week, The Madden Brothers, whose Greetings From California (oh, are they spending a lot of time in California these days?) took out top spot on debut, just ahead of Slash and Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, whose collaborative World On Fire fell just short of taking the crown, at #2.

It was a fairly lax (borderline depressing, actually) week for newcomers across the board, though, with Seekae's The Worry making its first appearance on the charts more than halfway down the Top 100 list at #64, beaten out by Melburnian contemporaries Willow Beats and their album Water, which picks up the still-respectable ranking of #56. US metallers Motionless In White and countrymen Train (Drops Of Jupiter), who are the only other first-timers between Washington and Willow Beats, both somehow outclass the home-grown efforts, snagging #19 and #15 for the week, respectively.

Over in the singles stakes, Meghan Trainor's head-poundingly repetitive All About That Bass reclaims pole position after slipping to #2 next week, with last week's top placeholder, Taylor Swift's Shake It Off dropping one rung to stave off the climbing Timmy Trumpet and Freaks, which has dominated the indie charts of late. It's up to #3 from #7 last week.

The highest single debut comes from Sigma featuring Paloma Faith, for Changing, which just skates into the top 20 for a ranking of #19. That sits well above the next-highest new entrant, Oh Cecilia (Breaking My Heart) by The Vamps, which is still in top-50 territory at #46.

Again, local artists get the shaft a bit — whatever you think of her, Delta Goodrem only manages #59 for Love Thy Will Be Done, and Flight Facilities' Emma Louise-featuring track Two Bodies grabs #67, while ascendant Melburnian singer-songwriter Meg Mac scoots in to the Top 100, with Roll Up Your Sleeves taking #97.