Billie Eilish Reaches New Personal Best On Australian Singles Chart

21 August 2023 | 12:01 pm | Gavin Ryan

Her 'Barbie' soundtrack entry holds on to the #1 spot for a third week running.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish (Supplied)

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Billie Eilish lands her longest running #1 in Australia as What Was I Made for? holds for a third week. 

The Barbie soundtrack entry also climbs to the top in England for the first time, and the English chart this week breaks a record where the entire top eight songs are all sung by female acts, surpassing that chart's previous record from November 8th, 1986 where they had the top five spots. Locally we have seven of the top ten entries belonging to seven different female artists and acts, one of those scoring two Top 10 entries this week. 

Locally What Was I Made for? is less than 100 sales from #2 this week, and it loses the top spot in Ireland this week to another Barbie soundtrack entry in Dua Lipa's Dance the Night, with that track holding at a peak of #3 for a second week here, while the third and final entry from the pink-film drops down five places to #9, Barbie World for Nicki MinajIce Spice and Aqua

Half of the Top 10 is on hold this week, with former #1 Sprinter for Dave and Central Cee at #2 for a third straight week (it drops #1 to #10 in England and #1 to #2 in New Zealand), Olivia Rodrigo is dead-on at #5 for a third straight week with her vampire track, while another former chart-topper in Last Night for Morgan Wallen remains at #7, plus the track holds for a sixteenth week at #1 in The U.S.A. and regains the top spot in Canada (fourth week), the first time that Last Night has topped both charts at the same time. 

On July 3rd and 10th the Taylor Swift track Cruel Summer peaked at #3 for two weeks, and this week it gets close to regaining that position by rising two places to #4, while last week's only new entry (to the Top 50) for Doja Cat and Paint the Town Red rises four places to a new peak of #6; also the song flies from three to #1 in New Zealand (her second #1 there), also rising in England (20 to #15), Ireland (24 to #13) and it debuts in The U.S.A. (#15) and Canada (#23). I suspect the reason it climbed higher in New Zealand than anywhere else is that the sample of Dionne Warwick's Walk on By and some of it's cover versions have previously been bigger in NZ than elsewhere, with the original hitting #4 in 1964 (#28 in Oz), the 1983 Jo Jo Zep cover made it to #6 there (#55 in Oz) and the 1990 cover by Sybil was a massive #2 single and the 48th biggest selling song in NZ in 1990. 

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Luke Combs began a national tour in Australia on August 11th in Brisbane, flowing to Sydney on the 16th, with his show's to finish on August 26th in Perth (he played NZ prior to us on August 9th), which has given him nine Top 100 entries this week, the highest of which is his cover of Fast Car, which rises back up one spot to #8 this week (10 to #9 in NZ this week). The highest new entry for this week again lands at #10, the second issued single from the forthcoming second album for Olivia Rodrigo called GUTS, the new track is called bad idea right?, and it follows on from this week's #5 entry vampire, which debuted and peaked at #1 on July 10th, with her new song also entering the Top 10 first week in England (#6), Ireland (#4) and NZ (#6), and becoming her sixth Top 10 locally. 

TOP 20: 

The only song to leave the Top 10 this week is the Gunna track FukUMean (HP-7, WI10-4), down three places to #11, followed by the first of two stable Top 20 entries in Daylight for David Kushner at #12, with the other being down at #18 for Rema and Selena Gomez with Calm Down

Taylor Swift rises back up with most of her entries this week, as she has eleven songs within the Top 100 this week, with her only Top 20 entry being Anti-Hero, back up four places to #16, with single place rises achieved by Zach Bryan and Something in the Orange, up on to #14 (and one place shy of its former peak of #13), and the SZA track Kill Bill is back up to #20. 

TOP 30: 

NEW PEAK: Luke Combs sees his 2022 entry The Kind of Love We Make jump up thirteen places this week to re-peak at #21 (previously peaked on Sept. 19th, 2022) thanks to his current national tour, while Taylor Swift is back up twelve spots to #26 with Style and remains on hold at #27 with Karma, while Harry Styles' As it Was pops back up two places to #23 and is newly certified 9x▲Platinum in sales, the only Top 50 cert this week. 

Travis Scott drops down into the Top 30 with two entries this week, Telekinesis (19 to #24) and Meltdown (13 to #29), with six place drops occuring for both Speed Drive by Charli XCX (22 to #28) and Boy's a Liar (pt.2) for PinkPantheress and Ice Spice (24 to #30). 

TOP 40: 

NEW PEAKS: The No.1 Club track again this week is the Peggy Gou song (it goes like) Nanana, which nationally rises five places to land at a new peak of #36, while two songs from the last decade for Luke Combs score new peaks this week thanks to his national tour, When it Rains it Pours (48 to #31; former peak #36 in Sept. 2022) and Beautiful Crazy (64 to #39; former peak #49 in Sept. 2022). In the lower fifty he also charts and rises with Ed Sheeran on Life Goes On (65 to #55), She Got the Best of Me (return at #70), Hurricane (returns at #77), Forever After All (returns at #79) and Beer Never Broke My Heart (returns at #95). 

The final Taylor Swift Top 50 entry this week is Blank Space, which rebounds twelve places to land at #33, while lower down she also charts with Shake it Off (73 to #56), Cardigan (63 to #60), August (60 to #64), Lover (76 to #71), Don't Blame Me (92 to #78) and I Can See You (TsV) (78 to #82). 

Three massive long-running chart entries all dip down within the Top 40, Riptide for Vance Joy (30 to #32; WI100-158, WI50-60), Heat Waves by Glass Animals (28 to #34; WI100-157, WI50-141) and Someone You Loved for Lewis Capaldi (33 to #35; WI100-229, WI50-148), while the only other Australian act within the Top 50 this week is Troye Sivan with Rush, down five places to #37, hopefully the new Jessica Mauboy and Jason DeRulo duet Give You Love can chart next week and add to the Aussie-tally. 

TOP 50: 

The only song to climb within this chart region is the Stephen Sanchez and Em Beihold entry Until I Found You, back up one place to #42 and scoring it's one-year chart anniversary (52 weeks) within the Top 100 (WI50-34), while the on-hold entry here is at #47 for The Killers classic Mr. Brightside. 

Post Malone and his Sunflower entry droops four places to #48, FIFTY FIFTY see a six place dive to #46 for their Cupid track, while falling seven spots to #43 is All My Life for Lil' Durk with J. Cole (from LW-#36), while the second-biggest fall for this week is a fourteen place drop to #45 for NewJeansSuper Shy

FURTHER NEW ENTRY:

* #10 - bad idea right - Olivia Rodrigo (Geffen)

* #41 - adore u Fred Again.. feat. Obongjayar (Atlantic UK) is the first new material for the UK producer, songwriter and performer from a potential new album, with this new entry becoming his sixth Top 100 and now third Top 50 entry in Australia, after his tour here earlier in the year saw him chart with Rumble (HP-32; Jan 30th, 2023) and Delilah (Pull Me Out of This) (HP-25; peaked Feb 20th, 2023), with his lower fifty peaks being Jungle (HP-52; Feb 20th, 2023), Turn on the Lights Again (HP-71; Feb 13th, 2023) and Baby Again (HP-70; March 27, 2023). The vocals on this new track are sung by Nigerian born and London based artist Steven Umoh who goes by the stage name Obongjayar, who issued his debut album Some Nights I Dream of Doors in May 2022. 

* #66 - Rich Men or North Richmond Oliver Anthony Music (4408066 Records) is the debut single and chart entry for the Virginia, U.S.A. native who was born Christopher Lunsford, and he only issued this track on August 8th, scoring 5 million YouTube views in its first three days of being uploaded. The country track tackles subjects like inflation, high taxes, child trafficking and welfare abuse in The U.S.A., with the song described as "a passionate screed against the state of the country".

New Certification: 

As it Was Harry Styles 9

HP = Highest Position

LW = Last Week

WI10 - Weeks in Top 10

*ARIA Chart info is based on sales for the week from the 12th to the 18th of August 2023