Arcade Fire on track for fourth UK Number 1 album with WE

Arcade Fire look to set to claim their fourth UK Number 1 album with WE this week.

The Canadian alt-rock band – comprising Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, Tom Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara - currently lead a barrage of new entries midweek with their sixth studio album. To date, they boast three chart-topping albums in the UK; 2010’s The Suburbs, 2013 LP Reflektor and 2017’s supercharged Everything Now. 

MORE: See Arcade Fire's full Official Charts history

Elsewhere in what’s on course to be an all-new Top 5, Sigrid sits at Number 2 midweek with her second studio album How to Let Go. Should it hold on, the album will prove a career-best for the Scandinavian star, following her 2019 Number 4 debut Sucker Punch. 

At Number 3, Soft Cell’s fifth studio album and first in over 20 years *Happiness Not Included could see the synth-pop duo return to the Top 5 for the first time since 1983. The record is also potentially on track to give the group – made up of Marc Almond and David Ball – their highest-charting album in their chart career that spans 40+ years. 

Also eyeing a Top 5 placing is London-born rapper Knucks, whose fourth release Alpha Place currently sits at Number 4. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanian rockers Halestorm look set for a Number 5 debut with their fifth record Back from the Dead. 

Meanwhile, Belle & Sebastian’s tenth studio album A Bit of Previous is on course to provide the Scottish indie group a career-high (6), Louisville rapper Jack Harlow also looks set to score his first UK Top 10 album with Come Home the Kids Miss You (8) and Californian rockers Warpaint also seek out a career-best peak with Radiate Like This, this group’s first album in six years (10). 

New Jersey native Sharon Van Etten could claim her first Top 20 appearance on the Official Albums Chart this week with sixth studio album We’ve Been Going About this All Wrong (11), while Kylie Minogue’s Infinite Disco could enter the Top 40 for the first time thanks to a limited-edition vinyl release (12). 

Elsewhere in the Top 20, Emeli Sande is on track to secure her fourth Top 40 album with Let’s Say For Instance (13), as Boyzlife could achieve their second with Old School (15). Daft Punk’s seminal 1997 album Homework returns to the Top 20 midweek as its first 2-LP pressing on the Daft Life label becomes available (16). See Daft Punk’s full Official Charts history here. 

Also looking set to enjoy a return to the Top 40 this week is Kate Rusby, whose album 30 Happy Returns sees the English folk singer reimagine hits spanning her 30-year career (23). Scottish folk group The Waterboys’ All Souls Hill is new at Number 26 midweek, while Dubstar’s Two is on track to see band members Sarah Blackwood and Chris Wilkie claim their first Top 40 album since 1997 (27). 
 
Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young could see three releases – taken from his Official Bootleg Series – enjoy Top 40 placings this week; live recordings Citizen Kane Jr Blues (25), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 1971 (34) and Royce Hall, 1971 (37). See Neil Young’s full Official Charts history here.  
 
Finally, New York rock outfit Sunflower Bean could score their second Top 40 album with Headful of Sugar this week (40).

See the Official Albums Chart Update Top 100 here from 5.45pm.