Australian charts

ARIA Singles Chart for 5 June 2006

No new tracks made it into the Top 10 since last week. In fact, the only difference is that Gnarls Barkley swapped places with the Young Divas. I'm predicting Pink's "Who Knew" will enter the Top 10 next week, otherwise Sean Paul's "Temperature", which is lingering just outside. Hopefully both will enter and knock out TV Rock and Pussycat Dolls.

Looking at the bigger picture, there are no obvious contenders for the Top 10 in the coming weeks, though if I had to pick something, I'd say Jimmy Barnes & Tim Rogers' "Out of Time" (which debuted at #50) or Freedom Of Thought's "Green And Gold (Song for the Socceroos)", which may pick up speed as the World Cup draws nearer. The Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready To Make Nice" is a strong contender, though hasn't yet appeared in the Top 50.

1. Rhianna - SOS
2. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

I'm really in two minds about this. One one hand I'm usually resistant to this kind of modern indie-soul (ie. Jamie Lidell grates on me), probably because it evokes much worse examples of the strain. One the other hand, it's so damn catchy, which may or may not play into its longevity, and I quite like that post-DFA rubbery bass, though the chorus has too much orchestration.

3. Young Divas - This Time I know It's For Real

I've never followed Australian Idol with any real verve, so the line-up of Young Divas really means nothing to me, except that Ricki-Lee is amongst them, which definitely counts in their favour. She's tops.

4. TV Rock feat. Seany B - Flaunt It

I hate this. It strikes me as the kind of music they play in South Yarra nightclubs full of beautiful young people, and it evokes everything detestable about such a notion; arrogance, vanity, ignorance, materialism, superficiality, or in other words, your average Big Brother contestant.

5. Pussycat Dolls feat. Will.I.Am - Beep

The perfect track for all young ladies for whom feminism is a dirty word, their misconception being that feminism imposes restrictions on women via their femininity. Taking pride in men looking at their beep has become a kind of backlash against what they perceive as a sexless, over-intellectualised ideology.

6. Ne-Yo - So Sick
7. Youth Group - Forever Young

I really like this track; a hazy flicker of half-forgotten childhood memories, the smell of freshly cut lawn, or rain on hot asphalt, of Dad listening to the footy on an AM radio in the garden - like the attempts to grasp fading memories in The Virgin Suicides.

8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California

My initial impressions are positive. I place the RHCP in the same basket as Blink 182 and Green Day; bands who I disliked when they were at their commercial peak, yet who have gone on to craft some great work since the spotlight left them. The less 'funky' the RHCP get, the more I find myself liking them.

9. Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine

Someone needs to tell these guys that 'grunge literature' died last decade.

10. Chris Brown - Yo (Excuse Me Miss)

iTMS Australia Chart (accessed 8 June 2006)

The iTMS Top 10 excludes Chris Brown's "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)", which doesn't seem to be available via Australia's iTMS, and Pussycat Dolls' "Beep", which appears at #12. These are replaced by Pink's "Who Knew" and Mary J. Blige & U2's "One", neither of which are even in the ARIA Top 50.

1. Gnarls Barkely - Crazy
2. Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
3. Rihanna - SOS
4. RHCP - Dani California
5. Pink - Who Knew
6. Youth Group - Forever Young
7. Mary J. Blige & US - One
8. Ne-Yo - So Sick
9. TV Rock - Flaunt It
10. Young Divas - This Time I Know It's for Real

ARIA Download Chart for 5 June 2006

It seems very predictable that Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and the Young Divas' "This Time I Know It's For Real" will enter the Top 10 next week. Other contenders over the coming weeks are Augie March's "One Crowded Hour", Sean Paul's "Temperature", and Dixie Chicks' "Not Ready To Make Nice".

1. Rihanna - SOS
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California
3. Youth Group - Forever Young
4. Pink - Who Knew
5. TV Rock feat. Seany B. - Flaunt It
6. James Blunt - Wisemen
7. Mary J. Blige & U2
8. Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
9. Pussycat Dolls feat. Will.I.Am - Beep
10. Black Eyes Peas - Pump It