With 13 U.K. No. 1 albums to his name, Robbie Williams knows life through a lens better than most.
The superstar British singer is about to add another chart crown, this time with XXV (via Columbia).
Williams’ 13th solo studio album leads the midweek chart by what a handy margin. According to the Official Charts Company, it’s outselling the rest of the top 10 combined, on its way to what should be Robbie’s 14th leader.
XXV celebrates the former Take That singer’s quarter-century as a solo artist, by collecting some of his most popular numbers, newly-orchestrated and recorded with the Metropole Orkest of the Netherlands.
Though Williams never scaled great commercial heights in the United States, he can fill arenas and stadiums across Europe and in Australia, and he’s a phenomenon in his homeland,
He’s collected more BRIT Awards than any other artist (18), and all but one of his studio albums have topped the chart; the only album to miss the mark was 2009’s Reality Killed the Video Star, which peaked at No. 2. He’s also led the Official U.K. Singles Chart with seven titles.
Should XXV hit the summit, Williams will pull away from Elvis Presley to take outright second place on the all-time list, behind only the Beatles with 15 U.K. No. 1s.
Coming in at No. 2 on the chart blast is Ozzy Osbourne’s Patient Number 9 (Columbia). If it holds its position, Patient would give the heavy metal legend a personal best, beating the No. 3 peak for 2020’s Ordinary Man.
Also new to the midweek chart is the Amazons’ How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me (Fiction), which is set for a No. 5 bow, which would give the British rock act their third consecutive top 10.
Close behind is Brit Award-winning Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, whose trilogy of albums climaxes with Nut (Virgin), set to start at No. 6. Nut is Tunstall’s seventh studio album, four of which cracked the U.K. top 10.
The Official U.K. Albums Chart is presented late Friday.
