Metallica Rock Australia’s Albums Chart With ‘S&M2’

Metallica come out swinging on Australia’s albums chart as S&M2 (Virgin/Universal) bows at No. 1, while Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (Atlantic/Warner) enters a third straight week atop the national singles survey.

More than 20 years after Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony led the ARIA Albums Chart with S&M, the unlikely partnership yields another leader.

The live compilation, recorded last September at San Francisco’s Chase Center, gives Metallica their seventh No. 1 album Down Under following Metallica (August 1991), Load (June 1996), S&M (November 1999), St. Anger (June 2003), Death Magnetic (September 2008), Hardwired…To Self-Destruct (2016).

New mom Katy Perry returns to the top tier of the albums chart with Smile (Capitol/EMI), new at No. 2. It’s the followup to her 2017 album Witness, which also peaked at No. 2. The U.S. pop star has topped the ARIA Albums Chart twice, with Teenage Dream (2010) and Prism (2013), and hit No. 2 with four other titles.

Sydney singer and songwriter Josh Pyke earns a sixth Top Ten on the albums survey with Rome (Wonderlick/Sony), his first studio LP in five years. It’s new at No. 8.

Another veteran Australian artist Diesel impacts the Top 10 on debut as Sunset Suburbia (Bloodlines/Universal) starts at No. 10. It’s Diesel’s highest entry since Solid State Rhyme also peaked at No. 10 in November 1994.

This week’s chart is notable for the domination of Universal Music Australia, which bags eight of the Top 10 and ten of the Top 12 recordings, as The Killers’ Imploding The Mirage (Island/Universal) dips 1-11 and British electronic music duo Disclosure start one place behind with Energy (Island/Universal), their third album.

One-time ARIA Female Artist or the Year winner Megan Washington returns to the national albums survey with Batflowers (Island/Universal), new at No. 23. It’s Washington’s third studio effort, and the follow-up to There There, which peaked at No. 5 in September 2014.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion make it three in a row with “WAP”.

Of the three female-led hip-hop songs to hit the summit, only Salt-N-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex” has logged more time at the top with four weeks.

The week’s highest new entry is a joint venture, Blackpink and Selena Gomez’s “Ice Cream” (Interscope/Universal) at No. 16, while Calvin Harris & The Weeknd are close behind with “Over Now” (Universal/Sony), new at No. 17.