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The Shires and J. Cole battling to become this week’s highest new entry on the Official Albums Chart
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Country music and hip hop are going head-to-head this week for highest new entry status on the Official Albums Chart.
UK country duo The Shires are heading for their highest ever Official Chart placing at Number 2 with their third album Accidentally On Purpose, while US rapper J. Cole is also heading for a personal best with KOD, less than 500 combined chart sales behind at Number 3 on today’s Official Chart Update.
The Greatest Showman is set for a 14th non-consecutive week at Number 1, but with less than 1000 sales separating the Top 3 at the midweek stage, the top spot is still all to play for.
New entries and high climbers
American rock outfit Black Stone Cherry are also vying for their highest ever Official Albums Chart position at Number 4 with Family Tree, while UK rapper Nines is hoping to secure his second Top 10 album with Crop Circle at Number 5.
Fresh from their performance at The Queen’s Birthday Party at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday, Sting & Shaggy are aiming for Number 7 with their first collaborative record 44/876, while rockers A Perfect Circle could score their first Top 10 album with Eat the Elephant at 9. The Who are also Top 10 bound with live album Live at Fillmore East 1968 (10).
David Bowie Record Store Day 2018 release Welcome to the Blackout is new at Number 14, while his classic album Aladdin Sane is back at Number 17 following a silver vinyl release. Country duo Brothers Osborne are also on track for a Top 40 placing with Port Saint Joe (20).
The 20th anniversary edition of Gomez’ debut album Bring It On is at 22, prog metal group Tesseract could earn their first Top 40 entry with Sonder (30), and Dutch singer My Indigo aka Sharon den Adel is at 38 with her first, self-titled solo album.
Finally, in addition to David Bowie’s Welcome To The Blackout, the following special Record Store Day releases are heading for this week’s Top 40: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd (18); David Bowie’s Now (19); Arcade Fire’s self-titled debut EP (24); The Courteeners’ St. Jude (29); and The Kids Are Alright from The Who (36).
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