The ARIA Albums Chart ranks the best-performing albums and extended plays in Australia. Its data, published by the Australian Recording Industry Association, is based collectively on each album and EP's weekly physical and digital sales. In 2012, twenty-two albums claimed the top spot, including Adele's 21 and Michael Bublé's Christmas, both of which started their peak positions in 2011. Ten acts achieved their first number-one album in Australia: Foster the People, Lana Del Rey, One Direction, Keith Urban, The Temper Trap, John Mayer, Karise Eden, Ed Sheeran, Birdy and The Amity Affliction.
One Direction earned two number-one albums during the year for Up All Night and Take Me Home. Taylor Swift's Red topped the charts for three consecutive weeks becoming her second number-one album on the chart. 21 was the longest-running number-one album of 2012, having topped the ARIA Albums Chart for nine weeks. Eden's My Journey topped the chart for six consecutive weeks, while Michael Bublé's Christmas, One Direction's Up All Night and Pink's The Truth About Love each spent five weeks at the number-one spot.
Chart history
+KeyThe yellow background indicates the #1 album on ARIA's End of Year Albums Chart of 2012. DateAlbumArtist(s)Ref.2 January Christmas Michael Bublé 9 January 21 Adele 16 January23 January 30 January 6 February Torches Foster the People 13 February Born to Die Lana Del Rey 20 February 21 Adele 27 February5 March12 March19 March Drinking from the Sun Hilltop Hoods 26 March2 April MDNA Madonna 9 April Up All Night One Direction 16 April23 April30 April7 May14 May 21 Adele 21 May The Story So Far Keith Urban 28 May The Temper Trap The Temper Trap 4 June Born and Raised John Mayer 11 June The Ol' Razzle Dazzle Missy Higgins 18 June25 June Believe Justin Bieber 2 July My Journey Karise Eden 9 July16 July23 July30 July6 August13 August + Ed Sheeran 20 August The Sapphires Various artists 27 August3 September Birdy Birdy 10 September North Matchbox Twenty 17 September Chasing Ghosts The Amity Affliction 24 September The Truth About Love Pink 1 October8 October15 October22 October29 October Red Taylor Swift 5 November12 November19 November Take Me Home One Direction 26 November3 December Armageddon Guy Sebastian 10 December Christmas Michael Bublé 17 December24 December31 December
Number-one artists Position Artist Weeks at No. 1 1 Adele 9 2 One Direction 7 3 Karise Eden 6 4 Michael Bublé 5 4 Pink 5 5 Taylor Swift 3 6 Hilltop Hoods 2 6 Various artists 2 7 Foster the People 1 7 Lana Del Rey 1 7 Madonna 1 7 Keith Urban 1 7 The Temper Trap 1 7 John Mayer 1 7 Missy Higgins 1 7 Justin Bieber 1 7 Ed Sheeran 1 7 Birdy 1 7 Matchbox Twenty 1 7 The Amity Affliction 1 7 Guy Sebastian 1
See also 2012 in music List of number-one singles of 2012 (Australia)
References