Crowded House’s Gravity Stairs takes the express elevator on the latest ARIA Chart.
The Rolling Stone AU/NZ cover stars blast to #3 on the ARIA Albums Chart, the best-performing homegrown record on the tally.
That result lifts Crowded House’s all-time tally to 10 top five efforts, including all eight studio albums plus two hits retrospectives.
Neil Finn and Co. have collected five leaders on the ARIA Chart dating back to their self-titled 1986 debut, plus Temple of Low Men (1988), Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House (1996), Time on Earth (2007), and Intriguer (2010).
Only US pop stars Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft up 2-1) and Taylor Swift (The Tortured Poets Department up 3-2) stand in the way of a sixth.
Gravity Stairs is Crowded House’s first release through BMG, and first since Primary Wave Music acquired Finn’s music publishing catalog and writer’s share of public performance for his work with the beloved band.
The new collection is produced with Steven Schram (Paul Kelly, San Cisco) and the folk-rock act, currently featuring Finn and his sons Elroy and Liam; founding, Australia-born bass player Nick Seymour; and American keyboardist Mitchell Froom, and is inspired by a heavy stone staircase near where the band leader holidays.
“The Gravity Stairs are symbolic of the struggle to ascend,” says Auckland-based Finn, “acknowledging the opposing forces of weight on the mechanics of living. It’s an act of will every day.”
Across its career, Crowded House have sold over 15 million records worldwide, and achieved induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, 13 ARIA Awards, an MTV VMA, a BRIT Award and a UK No. 1 album (with 1996’s Recurring Dream – The Very Best of). Finn was on hand at the 2024 Shure Rolling Stone Australia Awards in Sydney this April to collect the “icon” honour.
Crowded House grace the cover of the June-August issue of Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
“Everyone in Crowded House shares the history, and that’s the great thing about this lineup,” Finn tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “It’s different to what it was, but it’s got as much soul to my mind as any lineup we’ve had. And potentially it might be our greatest lineup, by whatever measure you use. It feels like we’ve got massive trust now.”
