This is our surprised face
Adele's record-breaking new album, 25, has maintained its hold on the ARIA Albums Chart for the week leading into Christmas — as expected — making it five in a row and keeping long-time festive player Michael Buble from getting higher than #2 for his seasonally popular Christmas.
However, UK vets Coldplay have suffered an unexpected pre-Christmas performance drop; far from their projections of filling Buble's present spot for a second week, with the Canadian crooner expected to have taken #3 (that, instead, went to Justin Bieber's Purpose), Coldplay have fallen down to the bottom end of the top 10, seeing A Head Full Of Dreams coming to rest at #8.
In the intervening slots, there's a hit list of Christmas shoe-ins, from Taylor Swift's 1989 (#4) and The 12th Man's The Very Best Of Richie (#5) to Ed Sheeran's X (#6) and If I Can Dream, by the still-very-dead Elvis Presley with the much-less-dead Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (#7). Cyrus (Cyrus, #9) and Human Nature (The Christmas Album) round out the top 10.
The week's highest debut doesn't come until a fair way down the list, as Jess & Matt slide their self-titled album into the top 30 at #29, just ahead of Louise Adams' Louise Adams, which enters at #32.
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It's a similar story for new singles on that respective ladder, too — the highest for the week doesn't even crack the top 50, as Charlie Puth settles for #77 with One Call Away — while the upper echelons remain largely steady on last week's results as we head towards the day on which the world blazes through like 98% of its wrapping-paper quota in a single 24-hour stretch. Respective top-four artists Justin Bieber (Love Yourself), Adele (Hello), Bieber again (Sorry) and Shawn Mendes (Stitches) remain unmoved from their previous places, though DJ Snake slithers up a couple rungs to newly take #5 with Middle, featuring Bipolar Sunshine.
Last week's #5, Ocean Drive, by Duke Dumont, thus drops to #6, a flow-on effect felt by Zara Larsson & MNEK as Never Forget You hits #7. Bieber makes yet another appearance in the top 10 with What Do You Mean?, making a two-spot jump up to #8, as Lay It All On Me, by Rudimental (feat. Ed Sheeran) drops to #9. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis with the all-star line-up of Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz also end the week on an upward-bound note, stepping up from #12 to close out the yuletide top-10 singles with Downtown.