J. Cole is duking it out with Paul Weller for the top slot on Friday’s Official Albums Chart while three songs from his latest Interscope release are headed for Top 20 debuts.
Weller’s 16th studio album Fat Pop (Polydor) is #1 at the midweek mark, having notched up the most CD and vinyl sales of the week; he’s got a 13k chart sales lead over Cole’s The Off-Season (Interscope), the week’s top streamer.
If it holds, Fat Pop would be Weller’s sixth U.K. #1 and second in less than 12 months—On Sunset topped the 7/10 chart.
The current #1, Rag’n’Bone Man’s Life By Misadventure (Columbia) drops to #3 but is the week’s most downloaded album.
At Singles, Cole has three tracks angling to be the week’s top new arrivals. Leading the way is “9 5 . S O U T H” at #9, which would be his second U.K. Top 10 single, followed by “M Y . L I F E” f/21 Savage & Morray at #10 and “A M A R I” at #11.
