Slipknot’s ‘The End, So Far’ Crowned on Australia’s Chart

Masked metal veterans Slipknot are the new champions of Australia’s chart, as The End, So Far (Roadrunner/Warner) blasts to No. 1.

It’s the fourth leader on the ARIA Chart for the Des Moines, Iowa act, following .5: The Gray Chapter, All Hope Is Gone and We Are Not Your Kind.

Slipknot leads sets from The Weeknd (The Highlights via Universal) and Harry Styles (Harry’s House via Columbia/Sony), respectively, while Billie Eilish sees both her studio LPs climb off the back of her national arena tour. Eilish’s 2021 leader Happier Than Ever (Interscope/Universal) lifts 6-4 on the latest survey, while her breakthrough debut, 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, lifts 7-5. When We Fall Asleep is now triple-platinum certified and has logged 184 weeks on the ARIA Chart.

Spanning 15 dates across Australia and New Zealand, Eilish’s route Down Under came to an end Sept. 30 at Perth’s RAC Arena.

Another U.S. artist who has been on the road in these parts, and is enjoy sales lifts as a result, is Luke Combs. The country star’s double-platinum 2017 album This One’s For You lifts 9-7, a new peak; his platinum-certified former leader from 2019, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, is up 12-9; and his 2022 set Growin’ Up (all via Columbia/Sony) holds at No. 10. The reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year wrapped his nine-show trek on Aug. 26, also at RAC Arena.

Further down the list, U.S. indie rock icons Yeah Yeah Yeahs crack the top 20 with their first studio album in almost a decade, Cool It Down (Secretly Canadian/Inertia). It’s new at No. 19. Cool It Down is the followup to 2013’s Mosquito, which peaked at No. 17 on the ARIA Chart.

Over on the national singles survey, published Friday (Oct. 7), Sam Smith and Kim Petras retain top spot with “Unholy” (Capitol/EMI).

Meanwhile, Coolio (real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr.) makes a posthumous appearance on the chart with his signature song from 1995, “Gangsta’s Paradise”.

The song bounces back at No. 22, following Coolio’s death Sept. 28, at the age of 59. “Gangsta’s Paradise” is one of the all-time ARIA hits. the single led the chart for an unbroken 13 weeks following its release – a streak that stood until Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” ruled the tally for 14 straight weeks in 2017.

Just four singles debut in the top 100 this week, led by Sheeran’s “Celestial” (Atlantic/Warner), at No. 57. “Celestial” appears in the new Pokémon titles “Scarlet” and “Violet.”

Lars Brandle

Billboard