The Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack has proved to be a hot Valentine’s Day gift Down Under, while the triumvirate of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartneycan add another No. 1 to their respective résumés.
The Fifty Shades original soundtrack, which features songs by Beyonce, Sia, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra and Annie Lennox, has nudged Taylor Swift’sfour-times platinum-certified (280,000 units) 1989 (Big Machine/Universal) from the top spot on the ARIA Albums Chart, a position it had made its own for nine weeks (including five in 2015).
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Soundtrack Tracklist Revealed: Beyonce, Rolling Stones, Sia & More
The No. 1 Fifty Shades Of Grey (Universal) set also features Ellie Goulding’s“Love Me Like You Do” (Polydor/Universal), which currently sits at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart, published on Sunday (Feb. 15), a day after Valentine’s Day.
Meanwhile, Sam Smith has enjoyed a sales lift from 6-3 following his triumphant night at the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards, where he collected four trophies. The British soul singer’s In The Lonely Hour (Capitol/EMI) is platinum-certified (70,000 units) in Australia and has spent 38 weeks on the ARIA chart, but has never climbed to No. 1. Its highest position is No. 2.
The top five is rounded out by Ed Sheeran’s X (Warner Music) and Meghan Trainor’s Title (Epic/Sony Music), while Diana Krall enjoyed a No. 7 debut with Wallflower (Verve/Universal), the Canadian artist’s 12th album. It’s just ahead of Bob Dylan’s 36th studio album Shadows In The Night (Columbia/Sony), which opened at No. 8.
Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney’s ‘FourFiveSeconds’ Tops Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Over on the singles chart, FourFiveSeconds (Island Def Jam/Universal) has hit the top spot in its third week, rising 3-1. The song gives Rihanna a seventh, McCartney a third (post-Beatles) and Kanye his second No. 1 single in Australia. The trio performed the track at the 57th annual Grammy Awards, which was beamed into Aussie households on Fox8.
At age 72, McCartney (who plays guitar on the song) is understood to be the oldest artist to hit No. 1, a record that was previously held by Cher, who was 52 when “Believe” reached No. 1 in 1999.
Kanye and McCartney cracked the Australian top 10 just last month with their collab “Only One,” on which the Beatles great plays on guest keys.