Noel Gallagher 1, Matt Cardle 0

Noel Gallagher has started the week in the lead in his race for Number 1 with Matt Cardle, one of the first big chart battles of the autumn.

After two days sales have been counted (up to midnight last night),Gallagher’s new album 'High Flying Birds' has a significant lead over Matt’s 'Letters' release in their chase for top spot in the Official Albums Chart – 55,000 sales vs 28,000 sales.

But the former Oasis man was always expected to get an early fan-base driven kick of sales. And, with supermarket sales unlikely to make a big impact until later in the week, Cardle is likely to narrow that gap over the coming days.

The rivalry between the two albums has been built up over the past couple of weeks, with Gallagher revealing that he had turned down an offer from Simon Cowell to be a judge on X Factor and criticising the show’s decision to allow 16-year-old singers to compete.

To see where both albums are likely to place in this week's Official Albums Chart, make sure you tune in to Radio 1 from 3:30-4pm for The Official Chart Update.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - The Death Of You And Me on MUZU.TV