U.K. MIDWEEKS: MUSE'S PEOPLE POWER

Warner Records’ Muse is eyeing its seventh U.K. #1 album amid a three-way tussle for the top spot on the Official Singles chart.

Muse’s Will of the People, its ninth studio album, is also tracking to become the U.K.’s first #1 album to use NFT technology; its limited-edition "digital pressing" is a collaboration between Warner Music U.K. and eco-friendly Web3 marketplace Serenade. Last week, Aitch’s Close to Home became the first NFT project to chart.

Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (Polydor) leaps a whopping 69 places to #3 following its release on vinyl and CD. At #4 is Embrace’s How To Be a Person Like Other People (Mo’Betta), its eighth U.K. Top 10 and first since 2018.

DJ Khaled is on course for a career best with his 13th studio album, GOD DID (We the Best/Epic), at #5. Blondie’s first boxed set, Against the Odds 1974-1982 (UMC), is #11 at the midweek mark. Another blast from the past, Scottish new-wavers Altered Images, is at #12 with Mascara Streakz (Cooking Vinyl), their first new release in 39 years.

The Bruno Mars/Anderson .Paak collab An Evening With Silk Sonic (Atlantic) is looking at #13 after its arrival on physical formats.

At singles, Britney Spears & Elton John’s “Hold Me Closer” (Mercury) and Eliza Rose’s “B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)” (Warner) are challenging the current chart-topper, LF System’s “Afraid To Feel” (Warner). Just 1,200 chart units separate the three songs, with “Afraid To Feel” still on top and leading in streams. Elton & Britney’s outing is the U.K.’s most-downloaded track of the week thus far. Spears last hit #1 in 2012 with “Scream & Shout.” John is looking at his fourth consecutive Top 10 single.

The second-best-selling single of the week is David Guetta & Bebe Rexha’s TikTok sensation “I’m Good (Blue)” (Warner), which is on track to debut at #8.

One Republic’s “I Ain’t Worried,” James Hype f/Miggy Dela Rosa’s “Ferrari” and Luude f/Mattafix’s “Big City Life” are fixing to move up the Top 10.