AMERICAN metal band Disturbed have scored an unwanted Australian chart record — the lowest selling No. 1 album in ARIA history.
Disturbed sold just 2140 copies nationally of their album Immortalized to return to No. 1 on this week’s ARIA chart.
It beats the low watermark set by another metal band, Bring Me The Horizon, who topped the ARIA album chart on just 3600 sales in 2010.
Immortalized debuted at No. 1 on the Australian charts last August with a healthy 8242 sales.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWHowever a slow sales week with no superstar releases saw Disturbed return to No. 1 on the back of their popular cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Sound of Silence.
Sales were so low last week Adele, who has sold over 500,000 copies of her album 25 in Australia since November, sat at No. 2 on just 1995 sales.
Charlie Puth sold just 460 copies nationally to be this week’s No. 40 album.
Last year during particularly slow sales weeks Ed Sheeran scored a No. 1 with 3777 copies while Meghan Trainor got a No. 1 with 4149 copies sold.
ARIA charts now include both physical and digital sales, as well as factoring in streaming on legal sites as part of the sales tally.
While last year’s sales picked up thanks to Adele, the music industry has suffered from illegal downloads and pirated music.
ARIA do not count compilation albums with no new material for the main album chart, otherwise So Fresh Hits of Autumn, which sold 4422 copies last week, would be No.1.
The tragic death of Prince and a surprise new Beyonce album will provide a boost to record sales next week — news of the superstar’s passing came after the ARIA charts were compiled last Thursday night.
The Very Best of Prince has been No. 1 on iTunes since Friday, getting a headstart on Beyonce’s Lemonade, which was released on iTunes on Monday night and is now at No.1.
After Prince fans rushed record stores, physical copies of his back catalogue were sold out and are being rush manufactured.
Fans are instead buying digital copies of his classic albums, which are not on any legal streaming service. Compilation albums Ultimate and The Hits/The B-Sides are the highest-sellers along with Purple Rain, Sign O’the Times and Diamonds and Pearls.
Prince has sold over 500,000 albums in America in the days since his death.