After 20 Weeks, Australia FINALLY Has A New #1 Song

Harry Styles lands his second solo and third overall #1 single in Australia this week as the lead song from his forthcoming third album As It Was lands first week at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart.

As It Was becomes the 1,111th #1 single in Australia (1940 to 2022), the 546th for ARIA (1983 to 2022), the 131st to debut at #1, the fifth overall chart-topping single for 2022 and now the first NEW #1 of the year, in fact, it's been twenty weeks since a new song went to the top of the charts, and not a returning song, that was on November 22nd, 2021 when Taylor Swift's redone All Too Well spent a single week at the top.

Styles first scored a #1 single as a member of One Direction, whose only chart-topper in Australia was Drag Me Down for one week on August 10th, 2015, while Harry's debut solo single Sign Of The Times also spent a single week at the top, four years and 51 weeks ago on April 17th, 2017 (one week shy of five years ago), thus the new song As It Was becomes his second solo and third overall #1 appearance, plus the new song has also landed first week at the top in England (also his second solo #1 there), Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, The Netherlands and Lithuania (so far) plus #2 in Germany and Norway. 

Styles' first new track from his forthcoming third album Harry's House (due May 20th) also becomes the first NEW #1 of the year, the latest Australia has ever seen a new #1 song, with the previous record holder being 2003 when on March 3rd Christina Aguilera's Beautiful knocked off the twelve-week running Eminem single Lose Yourself. Since November 29th, 2021 we've had nothing but returning #1 songs from Adele, Elton John & Dua Lipa (on three separate occasions), Mariah Carey, The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, plus the extraordinary Heat Waves for Glass Animals for the past five weeks. 

For former #1 song titles, As It Was has now claimed the third appearance for the word 'was' in a #1, the two previous were I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker in 2006 and Redgum with I Was Only 19 (two weeks from May 16th, 1983), while also the fourth 'as' and the 28th 'it'. For the record label Columbia this is now their 125th #1 single locally, while Harry Styles is now the second solo English male artist to land two or more #1 songs in Australia this century after Ed Sheeran (six in total), and only the third overall English act (solo male or female, duo or group) this century to land more than one #1 song, the other being Adele with three. 

As It Was also becomes the 214th #1 single in Australia by an English act, and the third successive by an English artist after Glass Animals and the Elton and Dua duet, while the last time this occurred was in 2016-17 when four English acts knocked each other off the top, starting with James Arthur in October to late November of 2016, followed by Clean Bandit and Anne-Marie, then Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You in January 2017 and lastly Harry Styles' Sign Of The Times on April 17th, 2017. 

Styles' high entry pushes last week's Top 8 singles down one spot each, with Heat Waves for Glass Animals leaving the top spot after eleven broken weeks to land at #2, the equal second-longest-running #1 for this decade alongside Mood and Blinding Lights, while Heat Waves is still at the top in the US (fifth week) and Canada (second week), plus it still continues its lead on the tally board for 'Most Weeks in the Top 10', now in its 62nd overall week within the ten. 

Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits and his track Shivers move down a place each to #3 and #7, while they are both newly certified as 5x▲Platinum and 3x▲Platinum respectively, rising from 3P and 1P previously. And at 40 weeks and 29 weeks apiece they are now the equal third and equal seventh longest-running Top 10 singles of all time, while the fourth-longest is down one to #4 for The Kid LAROI and Justin Beiber with Stay, a 39th overall week within the Top 10. 

Elton John and Dua Lipa's Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) dips one spot to #5, while casting its 34th week inside the Top 10 (fifth longest); the Lost Frequencies and Calum Scott track Where Are You Now departs its #5 peak for a fourth time to drop to #6. The third and final new cert within the Top 10 is the Gayle track abcdeFU which drops to #8 and scores its first-ever certification of 2x▲Platinum in sales. After two weeks at a peak of #8 the recent UK and Irish #1 single for Dave and Starlight is here down to #9, while thanks to his Grammy's medley performance this past week the Lil' Nas X track Industry Baby rises back up two spots to land at #10 and score a 29th overall week within the Top 10, now equal seventh alongside the aforementioned Shivers by Ed Sheeran, plus Lil' Nas X also swaps places with himself as last week's Top 10 entry That's What I Want (HP-7x2, WI10-15a) drops down two places to #12.

UP

Justin Bieber's Ghost hovers at its peak of #11 for a third non-consecutive week, while the song loses its #5 peak in the US to drop to #6, and it climbs to a new peak of #2 in his home country of Canada. After last week leaping into the Top 40 (65 to 35), the US rapper Latto sees her first chart entry Big Energy explode around the world this week, with the song here leaping twenty-two spots to score a new peak of #13 here, while the song jumps from #21 to #12 in New Zealand, #11 to #3 in the US. and after two weeks at #17 in Canada it's now up to #11, plus the song debuted in England at #57 this week.

Camila Cabello's new album Familia was issued on Friday (April 8th), so her current single Bam Bam with Ed Sheeran could jump again next week, as this week it rises two spots to a new peak of #14, while the only other top 20 rise is for Olivia Rodrigo's Good 4 U, back up four spots to #16, while her breakout single drivers license returns to the chart at #43 (up from #62) thanks to her winning multiple Grammy Awards this past week for 'Best New Artist', 'Best Solo Performance' for drivers license and 'Best Pop Vocal Album' for her debut set SOUR (TW-2).

Dua Lipa's Levitating is doing just that; holding steady at #19 this week, in fact it's only moved a few places in the past six weeks (from March 7th: 20-18-19-18-19-19), but it does pick up a new sales certification, now 6x▲Platinum in sales. 

After the Top 20 the next rising track is way down at #40, as the Billie Eilish song Happier Than Ever is back up three spots to #40, thanks possibly to her performing the song at the Grammys ceremony this past week, she had seven nominations, but alas no wins this year. The debut at #1 for the new Harry Styles single has also pulled an older entry of his back up the charts, as Watermelon Sugar rebounds twenty-nine spots to land at #444, plus the J Cole song No Role Modelz rises four spots to a new peak of #46, while it holds for a second week at it's NZ peak of #32. 

DOWN

Apart from the aforementioned Lil' Nas X Top 10 dropout, the other song to leave the Top 10 this week is the Encanto soundtrack single We Don't Talk About Bruno (HP-5, WI10-10), which drops down six spots to land at #15, the soundtracks only chart entry this week as Surface Pressure departs the Top 50. Both dropping three places each are Adele's Easy On Me and Save Your Tears by The Weeknd to #17 and #18 respectively. 

After sixteen (broken) weeks within the Top 20 and only peaking at #15, the Imagine Dragons song Enemy is down four to #21, while taking a ten-place plunge to #23 is the Luude and Colin Hay remix of Down Under (NZ #5, UK #9). ACraze's remix of the Cherish track Do It To It drops four to #25, while Doja Cat has three declining entries in Kiss Me Now (24 to #26) which is logging its one-year on the chart (52 weeks), plus the song is now 6x▲Platinum in sales and it also picked up the Grammy for 'Best Pop Duo/Group Performance', while she also drops with Woman (31 to #36) and on the Tyga track Freaky Deaky (41 to #50). 

After reaching new peaks last week two tracks drop back down five place apiece, Middle Of The Night for Elley Duhe and Let's Trot for Brothers and Joel Fletcher, with both falling to #30 and #31 respectively, while The Motto by Tiësto and Ava Max tumbles down nine spots to #32, but picks up its first sales certification of Gold (●) in sales, the sixth and final Top 50 new cert this week. 

Frank Ocean's Lost drops six places to #35, last week's return for the Foo Fighters song Everlong is down eleven spots this week to #39, while they also saw four lower fifty returned entries in My Hero (#90), The Pretender (#94), Best Of You (#96) and Learn To Fly (#97). There are four place drops for Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold and Fingers Crossed by Lauren Spencer-Smith to #38 and #41 respectively, while big tumbles occur for the Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa entry Sweetest Pie (36 to #49) and leaving from last weeks Top 50 were Maybe for Machine Gun Kelly (#38) and Chaotic by Tate McRae (#39). Ed Sheeran's Perfect is only down one spot this week to #47, but the song cracks a new chart record of five years on the chart (260 weeks within the Top 100), still the longest charted single of all time in Australia (and growing weekly). 

NEW ENTRIES

* #1 - As It Was by Harry Styles (Columbia)

* #22 - When You're Gone by Shawn Mendes (Island) is the first new Top 50 appearance for the Canadian singer-songwriter since 2020's Justin Bieber duet Monster (HP-7, late Nov. 2020), and is the fourth issued single in the past year and third chart entry after Summer Of Love (HP-81, August 30th, 2021) and It'll Be Okay (HP-52, late Dec, 2021), while overall this is his 13th Top 50 and 20th Top 100 chart entry since his first chart appearance as a guest on The Vamps cover of the track Oh Cecilia (HP-46, Sept 2014). 

* #27 - In My Head by Lil' TJay (Columbia) is the sixth chart entry for the American rapper (three as lead, three as a guest), with his best charting efforts being Calling My Phone (HP-3, Feb. 2021) and as a guest on the Pop Smoke single Mood Swings (HP-5, peaked Sept. 2020), while his last chart entry was also on the Pop Smoke song called Genius (HP-72, 26th of July, 2021). 

* #29 - Hurtless by Dean Lewis (Island Australia) is the ninth Top 100 and eighth Top 50 single for the local artist from Sydney, and is the third single to be issued from his forthcoming second studio album (no title or date known as yet), with the previous two being Falling Up (HP-48, peaked 14th of June, 2021) and "Looks Like Me" (HP-82, 1st of Nov., 2021).

HP = Highest Position

LW = Last Week

WI10 - Weeks in Top 10 

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 31st of March to the 7th of April, 2022.

Written, Compiled and Researched by Gavin Ryan.