Official New Zealand Music Chart - 26 January 2009

Please find attached the Official New Zealand Music Chart for your information.

"The Official New Zealand Top 40 returns Saturday 21 February at 7:30pm on C4"

chart1653.pdf

Chartbitz:
Wednesday, January 28 2009
by Andrew Miller

The Basshunter
Twenty-three-year-old musician and DJ Jonas Altberg becomes the third Swedish act to top the New Zealand Album Charts. Under his Basshunter stage name he makes a healthy four-place jump this week. Altberg bumps Billy T James from the top spot as Now You’re Here takes top honours in its fifth chart week.
It’s no surprise that ABBA have made the summit here – in fact, they’ve done it four times. The other Swedes to make it were Ace Of Base with 1994’s Happy Nation.
Both ABBA and AOB are quartets and have also had #1 singles, whereas Basshunter is a soloist only making it to #3 on the Singles Chart with his title track. Now he’s in for another shot with the second song off his album, All I Ever Wanted, at #24 this week.

Parachute Power
Neil Young’s Big Day Out-driven sales spike pales in comparison to the impact this week of the four-day Parachute Festival at Mystery Creek, Hamilton.
In a chart first, all five new entries on this week’s Album Chart are by acts featured at the Christian music gathering, each act scoring their very first New Zealand chart set in the process.
Three of the five are Kiwis, the other two American. The Parachute Band lead the
pack in at #6, followed closely by Wellington hip-hopper Rapture Ruckus at #7. Family Force 5 land at #12, while Auckland band MumsDollar place at #15. US-based Kutless rounds it out at #30.

U39
Irish mega-group U2 are one hit shy of their very own Top 40. Based on airplay and download sales, Get On Your Boots takes highest new entry honours on this week’s Singles Chart, coming in at #20.
The song becomes the quartet’s 39th New Zealand hit and their first in over two years since The Saints Are Coming with Green Day made #4.
U2’s new studio set No Line On The Horizon drops March 2nd, two weeks after the physical release of Get On Your Boots.

The New Singles
#20 U2 - Get On Your Boots
See story above.

#23 Smash Proof featuring Gin - Brother
Local hip-hop act Smash Proof are in the process of completing their as-yet untitled debut album, the first taste of which is the hit single Brother, new at #23 this week. It sees the trio of Tyree, Young Sid and Deach team up with expat vocalist Gin. All involved have had previous success – Deach featured on Tyree’s 2006 #6 Ladies And Gentleman, while Young Sid’s The Truth set made #27 in 2007. And, of course, Gin Wigmore’s Extended Play EP went Top 10 last year.

#24 Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You
The first and arguably most successful American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, lands at #24 this week with My Life Would Suck Without You. It brings Kelly’s chart tally to seven since her #12 Breakaway debut in 2004.

The New Album
#6 The Parachute Band - Technicolor
The new Parachute Band go where the old Parachute Band have never been. Their album Technicolor safely lands at #6, the biggest new album of the week, the majority of its sales made at last weekend’s Parachute Festival.

#7 Rapture Ruckus - Live At World’s End
Wellingtonian Brad Dring (aka Rapture Ruckus) took out the Best Gospel/Christian album at the 2007 Vodafone NZ Music Awards with his I Believe debut. Now his live follow-up, Live At World’s End, becomes his first New Zealand chart album, placing at #7.

#12 Family Force 5 - Dance Or Die
Atlanta based five-piece Family Force 5 originally called themselves The Phamily and The Brothers. Their Parachute exposure sees their Dance Or Die release land at #12. FF5 are based around brothers Solomon, Jacob and Joshua Olds, along with Nathan Curin and Derek Mount. The band’s live performance will have helped drive some of their sales.

#15 MumsDollar - Ruins
South Auckland-based rock band MumsDollar has been together and touring
for the past eight years, both domestically and internationally. Their Ruins album recording began in 2007 with Nic Manders producing. Again the Parachute push helps the band chart this week.

#30 Kutless - To Know That You’re Alive
Another band that has blown the candles out for their eighth birthday is American group Kutless. Their sixth album To Know You’re Alive becomes their first New Zealand charter. The Portland, Oregon group, already have quite a profile in the US. Their songs feature in video games and high-profile TV shows such as Scrubs.

ENDS