Aussies Find US Chart Success On Soundtracks

Two of the year's biggest selling albums in the US so far this year, Les Miserables: Highlights From The Motion Picture and Pitch Perfect, both feature Australian talent more commonly associated with box office charts.

Breakout Australian comedy actor Rebel Wilson's vocals feature on the Pitch Perfect soundtrack which still sits at its peak position of number three in the Billboard 200 this week while holding down the top spot on the US Soundtracks chart.

Wilson can be heard in songs from the musical credited to The Barden Bellas - the vocal group her character in the film was a part of. Wilson has talked about her struggle with the 10-part harmonies required in the film, she told the Disney website: "It's really difficult. We also thought we'd get vocal coaching but [the filmmakers] said 'No. You're supposed to learn it yourself.' So even though I've done musical theater singing, it was quite hard to blend in."

Also. a special edition of the Pitch Perfect soundtrack, available through iTunes, features expat Sydneysiders High Highs with their track Open Season.

Les Miserables, of course features our very own Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe - claimed by both us and NZ, and sits behind Pitch Perfect at number two on the Soundtracks chart. It also remains in the overall album listings top ten after six weeks and a peak position at number one.

Further down the Soundtracks chart is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack at number five - it features another Antipodean musical icon Neil Finn's track Song Of The Lonely Mountain.

Elsewhere for local acts, Guy Sebastian continues to inch back up the US Hot 100 with his Lupe Fiasco collab Battle Scars - this week shifting from 88 to 81, a short stay in the chart last year saw it peak at 73. Sebastian and Fiasco are booked to perform the song on popular US talk show Conan on February 13.

In the Dance/Electronic Songs chart, Sydney's Flight Facilities find their EDM anthem Crave You re-ignited as it jumps back to 31 win its the chart 28th week in - it previously peaking at 21.