Kendrick Lamar set for first UK Number 1 album with To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar is on track to score the US hip-hop star his first Official Albums Chart Number 1.

To Pimp A Butterfly, Lamar’s third studio release, is set to become the musician’s highest charting album to date in the UK after breaking Spotify’s global streaming record earlier this week, racking up over 9.6 million streams on its first day available.

The album is currently nearly 3,000 copies ahead of its nearest competitor, Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler’s Tracker, new at 2.

Current chart-topper Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour is at 3, followed by Ed Sheeran’s X (4) and new entry Van Morrison’s Duets - Re-working The Catalogue (5).

New entries

There are eight further new entries in today’s Official Albums Chart Update Top 40.

Marina & the Diamonds is on track to score her third Top 10 album this weekend with FROOT (6), while Bjork’s Vulnicura (10) is set to make its Top 10 debut after its physical release earlier this week.

US rockers Sleeping With Sirens’ Madness enters at 20 today, followed by Modest Mouse’s Strangers To Ourselves (21). 

Sibling duo The Veronicas are on track to score their second Top 40 with their self-titled third studio album (29), as Simply Red’s 25 – The Greatest Hits (34) heads back to Top 40 for the first time in five years.

Finally, Tobias Jesso Jr. is on track to make his Official Chart debut with Goon (35) as REM’s 1992 chart-topper Automatic For The People (37) looks set to make its first Top 40 appearance in 15 years on Sunday.

Click here to view this week's Official Albums Chart Update Top 100 (from 4pm)