Ed Sheeran will hit #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart on Friday with = (Atlantic), which has earned 84k sales at the halfway point. Over on singles, his “Overpass Graffiti” looks set for the top.
Sheeran is currently outperforming the rest of the Top 40 albums combined. Leading on physical sales, downloads and streams, = could overtake Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres (Parlophone) to claim the biggest opening week of 2021.
Elsewhere this week, a further eight new releases could land inside the Top 10. Former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft is at #2 with Acoustic Hymns— Vol. 1 (BMG), while the 25th anniversary re-release of Spice Girls’ debut, Spice (Virgin), is on track to return to the U.K. Top 10 at #3.
At #5 are The War on Drugs’ I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Atlantic); Joe Bonamassa, at #6, could gain his sixth U.K. Top 10 with Time Clocks (J&R Adventures); and Mastodon’s Hushed and Grim (Reprise) is #8. A remixed and updated version of Pink Floyd’s A Momentary Relapse of Reason (Parlophone) is #9.
Motorhead’s greatest hits collection, Everything Louder Forever (BMG), could earn the band their fifth U.K. Top 10 album at #10.
On the U.K.’s Official Singles midweeks, Sheeran has three songs in the Top 10. “Overpass Graffiti” is currently on track to debut at #1, while “Shivers” sits at #2 and “Bad Habits” is #5.
