NinajirachiEDM breakthrough DJ/producer Ninajirachi’s I Love My Computer (NLV Records) has made it to the top of the ARIA Australian Albums Chart, climbing up from the No. 4 spot to No. 1, in the most recent chart, dated January 12th.
It’s also pulling a buzz on the Hot 100, jumping this week to #12 from #36. The record is also topping the Vinyl Chart.
After reaching #18 last August I Love My Computer has been on a tailwind after Ninajirachi created a stir at the ARIA Awards last November. The album got eight nominations and won Best Independent Release and accorded her Best Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist.
It was also triple j’s Album of the Year and collected the 21st SoundMerch Australian Music Prize.
When ARIA told her of her latest success on the weekend, Ninajirachi responded: “Wow what the hell! That is just crazy. I feel like Chappell Roan".
Meanwhile, here are some chart trivia associated with Ninajirachi’s top spot.
1. It Took 23 Weeks From Release To #1
I Love My Computer took 23 weeks from its release to planting the flag on the ARIA Chart mountain. It might be a long time, especially in these fly-in-fly-out days.
But other Aussie acts took longer on the ARIA Chart.
INXS’ The Very Best is listed as second longest, taking 77 weeks to hit the peak on February 23, 2014. First released in October 2011, it initially struggled to #39 a month later.
Then came the February 2014 release of the two-part INXS: Never Tear Us Apart tele-series on the Seven Network.
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The first part drew 2.24 million viewers, the second 2,08 million. The album came back in at top spot. After 430 weeks in the charts, it was certified Diamond in December 2020 for 1 million sales.
It also went to #1 in New Zealand, and had chart pump action in parts of Europe.
Tina Arena’s Don’t Ask took sixth-longest, taking 52 weeks between debuting on November 27th, 1994 and hitting the peak on November 19th, 1995 after hard touring. She won five ARIAs as a result, becoming the first female artist to win an ARIA Album Of The Year.
Crowded House’s self titled debut was packed with hits such as Don’t Dream It’s Over, Something So Strong, Mean To Me, Something So Strong, and World Where You Live.
But it was tenth-longest in its cool running, taking 45 weeks from debuting on July 28th, 1986 and peaking on June 8th, 1987.
Incidentally, the longest run in Australia was 138 weeks for the three-CD Led Zeppelin Remasters, from between its chart debut on November 18th, 1990 to numero uno glory on July 11th, 1993. It was tentatively certified 10x Platinum for sales of 730,000.
2. It’s The Only Album With ‘Computer’ In Its Title To Reach Top Spot
I Love My Computer is the only album to reach top spot in Australia.
Radiohead’s OK Computer (May 1997) stalled after making it to #7 in Australia and certified platinum. Overseas it charted in 21 countries, including #1 in the UK and #21 in the USA.
Pioneering German electronic outfit Kraftwerk’s eighth album Computer World (May 1981) reached #51.
It did better in Germany (#7) and the UK (#15). In the USA the record got to #72 in the Hot 100 but considered booyah in the US R&B/Hip Hop Album Charts with a #32 placing.
The title track was released as a double A-side with Model, and reached #1 in Britain. In Australia where it was a dancefloor smash, it made it to #33 in the pop charts.
Incidentally, the only single to climb to the top of the totem pole in this country with the word in the title was Computer Games (September 1979) by Mi-Sex.
It scored Best Australian Single at the Countdown Awards, aided by a video shot at Control Data Corporation's North Sydney centre with wall-to-wall computers (considered visually stimulating in those pre-PCs days) and included gameplay from the 1979 arcade games Speed Freak, Basketball, and Star Fire.
Mi-Sex formed in New Zealand and moved to Sydney where they struck an international chord with their Graffiti Crimes debut album combining synth-new wave sounds with a futuristic image and songs about cloning, space travel, aliens, and digital relationships.
Another “computer” hit was Computer One (1984) by Melbourne band Dear Enemy, lifted from their Ransom Note debut. The track reached #15 on the pre-ARIA chart Kent Music Report and also cracked the US.
By default, Gary Numan’s Cars, which reached #7 here, had as a B-side Metal about a newly-created computer which realised that no matter how smart it became, it could never feel like the human it was made to look like.
3. Three Album Titles Inspired By Computers
Radiohead took its OK Computer call from the 1978 radio series Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, in which the character Zaphod Beeblebrox speaks the phrase "Okay, computer, I want full manual control now."
The band had been listening non-stop to it on the tour bus during their 1996 UK tour.
Band member Jonny Greenwood revealed to Select that the title "started attaching itself and creating all these weird resonances with what we were trying to do". This was the dystopian world they were trying to design through tech-speak and imagery.
For Kraftwerk’s mastermind Ralf Hütter, "We live in a computer world, so we made a song about it.” Not only did it describe how computers were slowly taking over human behaviour and attitudes, but it warned about the digital anxiety, social alienation and thought control.
For Ninajirachi, her album title summed up a love affair which started in her early teens.
The family home was in Kincumber, a small Central Coast town two hours out of Sydney.
The beach had little interest for Nina Wilson. What did was the family’s iMac.
Speaking to Daily Bandcamp, she recalled that at the age of 12 she had typed into the comments of a tie-dye shorts tutorial video: “Does anyone know this song? I don’t care about tie-dye at all. Just tell me what the song is.”
The 3:24 track was an EDM mash-up Pop Culture by 17-year old Madeon, aka Hugo Pierre Leclercq.
He sampled 39 popular songs – from Daft Punk to Michael Jackson to Kesha – and mixed them using the software FL Studio controlled with a Novation Launchpad.
It was a viral smash, going onto be viewed 600 million times and scoring Madeon a record deal with Columbia/Sony.
Sonically it was a game-changer which inspired thousands of future EDM producers and DJs around the world.
Nina Wilson was among them. She was obsessed with the iMac diving into every nook and cranny to discover new music and software. While at high school, she worked at Yogurtland.
She taught herself electronic music production using FL Studio, building up via mixes, EPs and live gigs. Nina Las Vegas was a mentor. The stage name was a mix of Nina and Jirachi, a Pokémon.
According to one report: “In 2021, Wilson developed the official demo project for Ableton Live 11, which was included for all users with the software's release, providing insights into her production techniques and demonstrating new features like comping, MPE, and updated audio effects.”
She sings “I wanna fuck my computer/ ‘Cause no one in the world knows me better.”
She admitted to Daily Bandcamp: “I spend more time with my computer than probably any single person,” she says. “It’s like a relationship, almost. I’ve been inseparable from this machine since I was eight.”
The computer shapes her music, she says, but so also does "nature, fantasy, science fiction, ideas of occult and magic."
4. Also In This Week’s ARIA Chart
Olivia Dean continues her chart dominance, with The Art Of Loving holding at #1 on the Albums Chart for the sixth non-consecutive week and Man I Need atop the Singles Chart for the eighth week in a row.
ARIA also reports:
“Three albums step back into the top 10, with Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid up from #11 to #7 (it has peaked at #2), Sombr’s I Barely Know Her up from #14 to #8 (it peaked at #4), and Morgan Wallen’s former chart-topper I’m The Problem up from #13 to #9.
“The final season of Stranger Things sends End Of Beginning by Djo – aka Joe Keery who played Steve Harrington in the series – back up the chart from #14 to #4. Released in 2022, it climbed to #3 in 2024. The track also jumps to #1 on the ARIA On Replay Singles Chart.
“Los Angeles-based girl group Katseye score two top 50 hits, with Gabriela at #31 (it has been as high as #27) and Internet Girl debuting at #45. The group includes members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the US and was formed in the 2023 reality TV series Dream Academy.
“Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 classic, Rumours, reclaims the top spot on the ARIA On Replay Albums Chart. The second single from the album, Dreams, is at #3 on the On Replay Singles Chart.”
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
