In its first week of eligibility, Kendrick Lamar‘s fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, has taken the number one spot on the ARIA Albums Chart. The slot was previously held by Daniel Johns’ first solo album in seven years, FutureNever.
Australia is not the only place where Lamar’s new double-album opus is charting highly. It had the biggest number one Billboard debut of 2022 so far, shifting 295,500 album-equivalent units, and marking Lamar’s fourth number one album on the Billboard chart. It’s also taken the top spot on album charts in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK’s R&B Albums Chart, among others.
Mr. Morale. & the Big Steppers arrived on Friday, 13th May, and features collaborations with Portishead‘s Beth Gibbons, Sampha, Ghostface Killah, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Taylour Paige and more. Lamar will take the album out on a world tour this year, hitting Australian shores in December.
Other new entries on this week’s ARIA Albums Chart include Florence + the Machine, whose new album Dance Fever lands at number two; and Mallrat, whose first studio album, Butterfly Blue, debuted at number six.
“I’ve always valued music that is interesting, beautiful and unpretentious,” Mallrat – aka Grace Shaw – said of her new album in a statement upon its announcement. “Something timeless and not reactive. Butterfly Blue was made with that in mind. It’s a demonstration of not pretending to be anyone else.”
Elsewhere in the top five are Jack Harlow‘s newest, Come Home the Kids Miss You, Olivia Rodrigo‘s 2021 album Sour and Hilltop Hoods’ 2012 record Drinking from the Sun, which rose from number 12 to number five.
