Kendrick Lamar takes second ARIA #1 album with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers

Returning with his fifth studio album, Kendrick Lamar takes out his second ARIA #1 album with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The first album in five years from the American hip hop superstar is the follow-up to Damn. (#2 Apr. ’17) and is Lamar’s first double album. Guests on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers include Ghostface Killah, Baby Keem, Sampha, Blxst and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons. Kendrick Lamar first hit #1 with To Pimp A Butterfly (#1 Mar. ’15). There are 14 tracks from the album in this week’s ARIA Singles Chart Top 50.

British indie pop act Florence + The Machine claim their fifth Top Three debut as Dance Fever enters the chart at #2. It’s the follow-up to High As Hope (#2 Jul. ’18) and features a host of collaborators including Jack Antonoff, Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley, Maggie Rogers and Kid Harpoon. Florence + The Machine previously topped the chart with Ceremonials (#1 Nov. ’11) and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (#1 Jun. ’15).

Mallrat scores her second ARIA Top Ten entry as she debuts at #6 with Butterfly Blue. The Brisbane singer-songwriter’s debut album comes three years after she made her first chart appearance with the EP Driving Music (#10 Sept. ’19). Butterfly Blue features the track ‘Surprise Me’, a collaboration with American rapper Azealia Banks.

After returning to the chart at #12 last week, Hilltop Hoods’ Drinking From The Sun has moved up seven places to hit #5. The album’s climb comes on the back of a second week of vinyl sales, leading to it again topping the ARIA Vinyl Albums Chart. The last time Drinking From The Sun appeared in the Top Ten was August 2012.

The soundtrack to the Eurovision Song Contest Turin 2022 debuts at #11 following the staging of the annual event last weekend in Italy. The album features all 40 participating songs including Australia’s entry, ‘Not the Same’ by Sheldon Riley, and the winner, ‘Stefania’ by Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra. The Eurovision soundtrack has charted in the Top 50 every year since 2012, with Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Vienna (#4 Jun. ’15) peaking highest.

American rock duo The Black Keys take out their second chart debut in a year as Dropout Boogie hits #35. The follow-up to Delta Kream (#8 May ’21) is the eleventh album from the pair and their ninth to appear in the ARIA Top 50. ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons appears on the track ‘Good Love’.

British group The Smile make their chart debut at #41 with their first release, A Light For Attracting Attention. The trio features Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, along with drummer Tom Skinner. They formed during COVID19 lockdowns and made their debut live appearance in May 2021 in a streamed performance produced by Glastonbury Festival. Yorke and Greenwood last charted together with the Radiohead album A Moon Shaped Pool (#2 May ’16). More recently, Yorke released the solo album, ANIMA (#23 Jul. ’19).

Empire of the Sun and The Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele makes his solo debut on the ARIA Charts at #46 with Listen to the Water. Steele’s first album to be credited under his own name is his first release since he collaborated with Daniel Johns under the name Dreams with the album No One Defeats Us (#42 Sept. ’18).