U.K. MIDWEEKS: ARI AND SAM IN A TIGHT RACE

Ariana Grande and Sam Smith are battling it out for the U.K.’s Official Albums #1 with just 577 in sales separating the two. Over on singles, Grande’s “positions” (Island) is set for another week on top.

Grande leads the way at the midweek point on albums with Positions— the most-streamed release of the week so far; Smith's Love Goes (Capitol) is the challenger.

Cliff Richard’s 41st studio album, Music … The Air That I Breathe (East West/Rhino), opens at #3 as Long Hot Summers–The Story Of (Polydor/UMC), from The Style Council, starts out at #5.

More collections heading for the Top 10 include: Bring Me the Horizon’s EP Post Human: Survival Horror (RCA) at #6; The Human Demands (Infectious Music), from Scottish singer Amy MacDonald, at #7; Black Stone Cherry’s The Human Condition (Mascot Records) at #8; M Huncho & Nafe Smallz' self-released DNA mixtape at #9; and Dizzee Rascal’s seventh studio album, E3 AF (Island), at #10.

The U.K.’s Official Singles midweek update has Grande with three songs in the Top 10; following “positions,” “34+35” is a new entry at #6, and “motive” f/Doja Cat starts at #10.

New peaks are in the cards for Wes Nelson & Hardy Caprio’s “See Nobody” (EMI) at #3 and Miley Cyrus’ “Midnight Sky” (RCA) at #4.