Yungblud is in pole position for his first U.K. No. 1 with Weird! (Interscope), the British pop-rock artist’s sophomore album.
At the halfway stage, Weird! is the best-seller on CDs and holds an advantage of almost 11,000 chart units over its nearest rivals to lead the Official Chart Update, the OCC reports.
The strongest threat for the chart title comes from Arctic Monkeys’ Live at The Royal Albert Hall (Domino Recordings), which bows at No. 2 on the chart blast. The Sheffield rockers are a perfect six-for-six, having led the Official U.K. Albums Chart with every studio album dating back to their debut from 2006, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
Also new to the midweek chart is Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day (Parlophone) by Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones, which opens at No. 4 and is all set to give the Welshman his first solo appearance on the survey.
Shawn Mendes’ fourth album Wonder (EMI) is the most downloaded LP in the first half of the chart week, for a No. 5 start on the chart update.
Meanwhile, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is the track to catch in the race for the singles chart title. “All I Want” rules the midweek singles leaderboard, and remains on track for its first stint at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart.
The queen of Christmas’s enduring hit leads a festive Top 5, ahead of Wham’s “Last Christmas” (RCA), The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl’s “Fairytale of New York” (Warner Bros), Jess Glynne’s “This Christmas” (Atlantic) and Shakin’ Stevens’ “Merry Christmas Everyone” (RCA), respectively.
The Official U.K. Singles and Albums Charts are published late Friday, local time.
