U.K. MIDWEEKS: LONDON GRAMMAR HEAD TO #1

British trio London Grammar (pictured) are #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums midweek update with second album Truth is a Beautiful Thing—the first big project from Ministry of Sound since the label was acquired by Sony. As for singles, David Guetta and Justin Bieber track “2U,” which, rather interestingly, is a joint release between WMG’s Parlophone and UMG’s Virgin EMI in Blighty, has entered the U.K. Official Singles Chart at #3 midway stage.

London Grammar hit #2 with their debut album If You Wait in 2013. It was a big success story for the then MD of Ministry of Sound, David Dollimore, who proved his A&R chops by transitioning the previously dance and singles led label into artist development territory. He was named President of RCA and Ministry of Sound after Sony bought the indie last year. The London Grammar album is the first of his projects to be released under the new deal. Truth is a Beautiful Thing has had a winning start, notching up 31k combined sales since Friday—just 2k short of what its predecessor did across its entire first week and there’s still four full sales days to go.

This week's second highest new entry looks set to be Adios (UMC) by Glen Campbell, which sits 18k combined sales behind at #2. The third is currently Fleetwood Mac side project Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie (East West/Rhino) at #4, followed by Katy Perry with Witness (Virgin EMI) at #5. Ed Sheeran is #3 with ÷ (Atlantic).

The rest of the singles Top 5 is fairly static: “Despacito” (Polydor) by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Bieber is still #1, Ariana Grande’s “One Last Time” (Island) is holding at #2, “Strip that Down” (Capitol) by Liam Payne f/Quavo is #4 and “Unforgettable” (Black Butter) by French Montana f/Swae Lee is #5.