U.K. MIDWEEKS: OCEAN HUGE ACROSS THE POND

Frank Ocean’s Blonde is heading for #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart strictly from iTunes downloads—it's available for £7.99—and Apple Music streams. So how are the numbers stacking up?

Blonde had been downloaded 14.2k times after its first day of release on 8/20. That’s without Apple Music numbers which weren’t yet available. Predictors are predicting first-week sales and streams to total 40k. By comparison, Beyoncé’s Lemonade (RCA in the U.K.)— an iTunes and Tidal exclusive—notched 73k combined sales in its first week on sale in the U.K. in May, 10k of those being streaming equivalents on Tidal. Blonde is likely to be Ocean’s first #1 album in Blighty (Channel Orange hit #2 in 2012).

Trailing nearly 4k combined sales behind Ocean is Dolly Parton’s Pure & Simple (Sony), followed by the mockumentary soundtrack for comedy star David Brent’s Life On The Road (Caroline), ELO’s All Over The World (Epic) and Bob Marley’s Legend (Tuff Gong) at #5.

Over on the Official Singles Chart at midway stage, it's the tightest battle yet between Major Lazer, Justin Bieber and MØ’s “Cold Water” (Because Music), and DJ Snake and Bieber’s “Let Me Love You” (Polydor). The latter sits just 167 combined chart sales behind. Will it hurtle ahead by Friday?

Elsewhere, Calum Scott's cover of Robyn's “Dancing On My Own” (Virgin EMI) stays at #3, while Chainsmokers have two entries in the Top 5—the Halsey track “Closer” (RCA) is holding firm at #4 and “Don't Let Me Down” f/Daya is up one place to #5.