U.K. MIDWEEKS: CAN RADIOHEAD REACH #1?

Radiohead are two chart days down, having released A Moon Shaped Pool (XL) Sunday, but with 15k sales notched up so far, the band could very well get their sixth #1 album in the U.K. At midway stage, Skepta and Beyoncé are the closest competitors.

A Moon Shaped Pool is available to stream on premium-only services like Apple Music, Tidal and Google Play, but is notable in its absence from Spotify, understood to be down to the gripes frontman Thom Yorke has had with what he deems to be unfair payouts from Daniel Ek’s service in the past.

Spotify is big in Blighty, but even so, shunning the platform hasn’t fared badly for Beyoncé’s Lemonade (Columbia) and Drake’s Views (Island), which both sold over 70k in the U.K. during their first week and hit #1. Is Spotify losing ground to Apple and its deep pockets?

Grime artist Skepta released his fourth album, Konnichiwa, on Friday through his own indie, Boy Better Know. The set is currently #1, sitting 2k copies ahead of Lemonade, followed by Radiohead at #3. Elsewhere, Drake falls from #1 to #4 with Views, and Gregory Porter's fourth studio album, Take Me to the Alley (Blue Note), is new in at #5.

Over on the midweek Official Singles Chart, Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s “This Is What You Came For” (Columbia) is heading to #1, but it’s a tight race; the duo are just 1k sales ahead of Drake’s long-running #1 “One Dance.”

Jumping straight in at #3 this week is Justin Timberlake’s “Can't Stop The Feeling” (RCA), followed by Sia’s “Cheap Thrills” (Monkey Puzzle/RCA) and Mike Posner’s “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” (Island).