Lawson and OneRepublic take on Miley Cyrus for Number 1

By Daniel Lane

Miley Cyrus is currently battling it out with OneRepublic and Lawson to hold onto her Official Singles Chart Number 1 crown.

She became the first artist of 2013 to do the Official Charts Number 1 single and album double on Sunday, now Miley Cyrus is facing tough competition from Lawson and OneRepublic if she wants to hold on to her Official Singles Chart crown.

According to the Official Charts Company’s latest sales data, there is currently just over 4,000 copies separating this week’s Top 3, with OneRepublic’s Counting Stars leading the race to Number 1 with at this midway stage.

The US band’s latest track made its Top 40 debut back in August, before climbing to the top spot two weeks ago. Counting Stars became OneRepublic’s first UK chart topper despite frontman Ryan Tedder having penned chart smashes for the likes of Adele, Beyonce, Leona Lewis and, more recently, Ellie Goulding’s Number 1 hit Burn.

You can watch Ryan Tedder talking about Counting Stars when it first reached Number 1 below:

Meanwhile, reigning chart queen Miley Cyrus slides one place to Number 2 today with Wrecking Ball, while Lawson are new in at 3 with Juliet. The British band, who have clocked up four Top 10 singles and a Top 10 album over the last year-and-half, have never scored a Number 1 single as yet.

With the race too close to call at this point, tune into BBC Radio 1’s Official Chart Show with Jameela Jamil on Sunday from 4pm to hear who comes out on top, then log on to www.officialcharts.com at 7pm to view the Top 100 in full.

New Entries

In addition to Lawson’s Juliet (Number 3), there are six other new entries on today’s Official Singles Chart Update.

Wilkinson looks set to make his Top 10 debut on Sunday with Afterglow. The rising London-based drum and bass star, who has received much critical acclaim for his work with Chase & Status, Example and Professor Green, is new in at Number 5 today. His debut album, Lazers Not Included, will be released later this month.

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea is on track for her highest charting single to date this weekend with Change Your Life (8), while Justin Bieber looks likely to debut a few places behind her with the second release in his weekly series of singles, All That Matters (10).

Eminem is riding at Number 13 with Rap God. The six-minutes-plus track is the second single from the US rapper’s hotly anticipated eighth album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, and was only released yesterday (Tuesday, October 15). It will no doubt join its predecessor, Bezerk (Number 6 today), in the Top 10 on Sunday.

And finally, after appearing on Sunday night’s X Factor results show, chart legend Cher is on course for her first Top 40 single in almost 12 years - her 34th overall - with I Hope You Find It (24). You Wanna Know by UK rockers Don Broco completes the midweek new entries at 27.

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.