Gary Barlow takes on Bastille in closest chart race of the year!

Gary Barlow and Bastille are neck-and-neck in the race for this week's Official Number 1 single.

This week’s Official Singles Chart is shaping up to be the closest chart battle of 2013 so far with Gary Barlow going head-to-head with Bastille in the race to Number 1.

According to the Official Charts Company’s latest sales data, the Take That star and X Factor judge’s new track, Let Me Go, is just 15 copies behind Bastille’s Of The Night, which is in pole position at this midway stage. (This impossibly tight margin is even closer than the 1,150 copies which separated OneRepublic’s Counting Stars when they beat The Vamps’ Can We Dance to Number 1 last month).

Of The Night is taken from the upcoming special edition of Bastille’s Number 1 debut album, Bad Blood which is released on Monday (November 25). While the London-based band have previously topped the Official Albums Chart, they are yet to have a Number 1 single. Their biggest hit to date is Pompeii (which peaked at Number 2 back in March of this year).

Meanwhile, should Gary Barlow manage to take the lead by Sunday’s final whistle, Let Me Go would become his 15th Official Singles Chart Number 1 (including both his Take That and solo material), putting him ahead of both bandmate Robbie Williams and chart legend Sir Cliff Richard who currently hold 14 apiece.

But the race doesn’t end there!

It’s well and truly fight time as also trailing Bastille and Gary by just 2,400 copies is Lily Allen with her cover of Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know, as featured on the John Lewis festive ad campaign. Lily is in third place with strong momentum behind her still in the track’s second week on sale, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility for a further upset at the top come Sunday!

Tune in to BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart Show with Jameela Jamil this Sunday (November 24) from 4pm Sunday to see who emerges victorious and log on to www.officialcharts.com at 7pm to see the Top 100 in full.

This week’s Official Singles Chart Update Top 5 is completed by Ellie Goulding’s How Long Will I Love You (4) and Martin Garrix’s Animals (5).

New Entries

Lily Allen is set to score her second Top 10 single in as many weeks this Sunday with Hard Out Here. The thought-provoking track, which sees Lily tackling music video misogyny head on, is new in at Number 7 on today’s Official Singles Chart Update.

JLS are set to debut at 14 with their farewell single, Billion Lights, while Justin Bieber is on course to enter at 17 with PYD FT R Kelly.

And finally, Boyzone are at 39 today with Love Will Save The Day. The track is taken from their 20th anniversary album, BZ20, due for release next Monday.

The Official Singles Chart Update Top 40 is as follows. The Official Singles Chart Top 100 will be posted in full, here, on Sunday at 7pm.

© 2013 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.