Tom Waits Orphans Self At The Top

Now we shall all gather around the fireplace and sing a round of "Old Man River" in honour of the ancient mariner, Tom Waits, hitting #1 on the Canadian Campus Top 50 chart. Yes, the terminally youthful fellow with the old man's voice, Waits, who turned 57 last Thursday, easily becomes the oldest artist ever to hit #1. His latest three-CD set, Orphans, moves up a spot to be the king of the chart castle. Moving up 28 places to the coveted #2 position is Swan Lake's Beast Moans, a supergroup featuring Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade). Remaining at #3 is Joanna Newsom's Ys, while The Dears' Gang Of Losers jumps back up four spots to land at #4, dropping Shotgun And Jaybird's Trying To Get Somewhere down a peg to #5. Another veteran album on the charts, Hidden Cameras' Awoo sees some renewed interest as it jumps 18 places back up the charts to land at #6. Decemberists' The Crane Wife remains at #7, followed by Pawa Up First' Introducing New Details moves up eight spots to rest at #8. K-OS' Atlantis — Hymns For Disco rumbles back up the chart six spots to sit at #9, while relative newbie, Uncut's Modern Currencies, in its fourth week on the chart jumps seven places to sit at #10 this week.

The Chart Sizzler Award goes to Birdapres' Get It Done. This east Vancouver-based rapper has been charting on the Hip-Hop for a number of weeks already and finally debuts on the top 50 chart at #26. The Sourkeys' The Spectacle enters at #27 and Frida Hyvonen's Until Death Comes debuts at #28. Other notable new entries include Tenacious D's The Pick Of Destiny at #31, Die Mannequin's How To Kill at #39 and the Shortbus soundtrack compilation at #45.

There was the usual topsy-turvy atop the specialty chart. While Lady Sovereign's Public Warning remains at #1 on the Hip-Hop top 10 and Tartit's Abacabok holds down the top spot on the World/Folk chart, Mini's Audio Hygiene moves up two places to take the #1 spot on the Electronic chart, a place it once held for the last two weeks in October. On the Metal/Punk chart, the flip-flop between Amon Amarth's With Oden On Our Side and Mastodon's Blood Mountain continues. Since the week of October 27th (seven weeks in total), these two albums have held the top two spots on this chart. This week it's Amon Amarth's turn to sit at #1. Finally, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis & Roscoe Mitchell's Streaming debuts at #1 on the Jazz/Blues.