U.K. MIDWEEKS: SWIFT SALES FOR MIDNIGHTS

Taylor Swift's Midnights (EMI) is already the year’s fastest-seller, shifting 140k at the halfway point and on its way to becoming her ninth U.K. Official Albums #1. Tay's also in the lead at singles.

An all-new Top 8 likewise includes Arctic Monkeys' The Car (Domino) at #2 with 105k so far, Loyle Carner’s Hugo (EMI) in third place and Simple Minds’ Direction of the Heart (BMG) at #4. A 25th anniversary release of Kylie Minogue’s Impossible Princess (BMG) is #5—it originally peaked at #10—and a-ha’s True North (RCA) is #6, on track to become the band's highest-charting album in the U.K. in 13 years.

Carly Rae Jepsen is set for a career best, with The Loneliest Time (School Boy/Interscope) starting at #7, while Dry Cleaning’s Stumpwork (4AD) is #8.

On the U.K.’s Official Singles midweek chart, “Anti-Hero” looks set to become Swift’s second U.K. #1 single. Should it hold onto its position until Friday, it will be her first chart-topper since 2017's “Look What You Made Me Do.” The track is one of three from Midnights in today’s Top 3: “Lavender Haze” is #2 and “Snow on the Beach” f/Lana Del Rey is #3.

Elsewhere, Arctic Monkeys could score two Top 20 tracks from The Car: “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” is #14 and “Sculptures of Anything Goes” is #15. Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ long-running #1, “Unholy” (Capitol), has moved down to #4.