Praise the Lorde

Fresh from her surprise Glastonbury appearance, Auckland-born Lorde sees her fourth studio album, Virgin, charge onto the ARIA Albums Chart at #1 this week. 

It marks four for four from Lorde, as Virgin’s three predecessors all landed in the penthouse: Pure Heroine in 2013, Melodrama in 2017 and Solar Power in 2021. Lorde’s Ultrasound World Tour starts in Texas in September. 

The soundtrack from Netflix’s animated musical KPop Demon Hunters climbs from #5 last week to #2, making it highest-charting soundtrack album since Wicked reached #3 last year. It features songs by the two fictional groups, HUNTR/X and Saja Boys, plus real-life K-pop stars Twice. 

Several tracks from the album race up the Singles Chart, including Golden (which flies from #74 to #8), Your Idol (new at #12), How It’s Done (new at #21), What It Sounds Like (new at #25), Soda Pop (new at #27), Free (new at 33) and Takedown (new at #52).

Teddy Swims is new at #11 with I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Complete Edition). Part 1 peaked at #4 in 2023, while Part 2 spent one week at #1 in February this year. The Complete Edition includes six new tracks.

At the top of the Singles Chart, Alex Warren’s Ordinary holds at #1 for the 15th consecutive week, tying with Ed Sheeran’s 2017 hit Shape Of You as the third longest running #1 single ever in Australia. The KID LAROI and Justin Bieber rank second with Stay (17 weeks on top in 2021-22) and Tones and I is on top with Dance Monkey (24 weeks in 2019-20).