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Ward Thomas and Jamie T are battling for their first Official Number 1 album
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Two acts are battling for pole position on this week’s Official Albums Chart: Country duo Ward Thomas and indie rock star Jamie T.
Twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas' second studio collection Cartwheels is currently leading the way at the halfway stage of the chart week, just 750 combined sales ahead of their closest rival - Jamie T's Trick (2).
The stakes are high this week, as whoever holds the top spot on Friday’s Official Chart will achieve their first Number 1 album. Ward Thomas’ 2014 debut From Where We Stand peaked at 41, while Jamie T’s previous three records have landed inside the Top 10. If Ward Thomas hold on to their position, they’ll also have the accolade of being the first UK country act in Official Chart history to top the chart.
MORE: See this week's Top 100 Official Albums Chart Update in full
Last week's Number 1, Barbra Streisand's Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway, drops to Number 3, while Wretch 32's third album Growing Over Life is new at 4 and Foreverland, The Divine Comedy's 11th studio album enters at 5.
New entries and high climbers
A further 10 potential newcomers could impact this week's Official Albums Chart Top 40, the first being A Day to Remember's sixth studio album Bad Vibrations. Headed for Number 6, the collection will be their first to hit the Top 40.
The Nation's Favourite Songs compilation by The Carpenters is bound for Number 7, with Sophie Ellis-Bextor speeding towards a fourth Top 10 album with Familia at 8. King Creosote's Astronaut Meets Appleman lands at 16, just ahead of Travis Scott's Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight (18).
Sia's This Is Acting rebounds 11 places to 19, just ahead of the debut album from Izzy Bizu; A Moment of Madness is on the cusp of a Top 20 placing at 20. Freddie Mercury's Messenger of the Gods singles collection, commemorating what would have been his 70th birthday, is another new entry at 22.
Finally, The Wedding Present's ninth studio album Going, Going... lands at 24, We Move by James Vincent McMorrow starts out at 32, and Number 33 is occupied by this week's final potential new entry Angel Olsen's My Woman.
See this week's Top 100 Official Albums Chart Update in full
Look back through every Official Number 1 album of 2016 so far below:
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Grace Sande
I hope Jamie T gets to no. 1. His music is inspired. No offence to Ward Thomas but their music is very bland.
johnesh
I've heard a lot of talk about Ward Thomas being "country". They're quite good, with nice voices, but their music isn't country. It just sounds like modern indie pop. There's nothing "country" about it.