Country Music Trumps Kanye West On Aus Chart [UPDATED]

22 June 2013 | 7:02 pm | Staff Writer

Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey beat Kanye to #1

After this story was published, ARIA retracted the chart figures reported here and confirmed that Kanye West had indeed debuted in the number one spot on the album charts.

Below is the story, as published at 7.02pm Saturday night.

You probably wouldn't have tipped it, but an album by Australian country music veterans Troy Cassar-Daley and Adam Harvey has beaten Kanye West to the top of the ARIA Albums Chart this week.

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Cassar-Daley and Harvey's The Great Country Songbook, which features versions of tracks by Slim Dusty, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson amongst others, is the first number one album for both artists. They had a bit of an advantage over West's Yeezus, though, in that his album was released mid-week and therefore has only had half a week of sales to draw from.

Amazingly West has never had an Australian number one record and this is his third number two album (the others are Graduation in 2007 and Watch The Throne with Jay-Z in 2011). Should sales stay as strong as they are, he's going to be hard to keep from the number one spot when he gets a full week of releases under his belt.

The other big debut this week was from another Australian group Empire Of The Sun whose Ice On The Dune debuted at three. Last week's number one, Bernard Fanning's Departures, was pushed to fourth.

Elsewhere Sigur Ros' Kveikur debuted at 17, Rates' Destroy & Rebuild at 38 and comedy group The Lonely Island's The Wack Album came in at 39.

Local indie-electro group Midnight Juggernauts debuted further down at 78 with Uncanny Valley. It managed 48 on the Digital Albums Chart.

There was also a bit of a surprise on the ARIA Singles Chart, with The Voice winner Harrison Craig having to settle for 15 with his track Unconditional. Last year Channel Nine's reality talent quest dominated the charts during its final stages but it hasn't had the same impact this year. That said, The Voice judge Ricky Martin debuted at three this week with new track Come With Me. He couldn't get to Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines (featuring T.I. and Pharrell) which stays number one and Passenger's Let Her Go, which is back up to two.