Richard Hawley takes on Lewis Capaldi for this week’s Number 1 Album

Richard Hawley is on course to take this week’s highest new entry – and possibly his highest-charting record yet on the Official Albums Chart with his new album Further.

The singer-songwriter and guitarist currently sits at Number 2 with his eighth studio album, potentially earning him his highest charting solo album to date. 2012’s Standing At The Sky’s Edge debuted at Number 3.

Meanwhile, Lewis Capaldi currently holds the lead and could secure a third week at Number 1 with Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent. Last week Lewis’s album was BRIT certified Gold for combined sales of over 100,000 (129,000 to date).

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Skepta is close behind at Number 3 with his fifth studio album Ignorance Is Bliss, Susan Boyle’s tenth anniversary compilation Ten starts at Number 4, and an album of unreleased and rare recordings of the late Rory Gallagher called Blues is on course to land at Number 9. Chase & Status could collect their fourth Top 10 record with Rtrn II Jungle, currently at Number 10.

Elsewhere in the Albums Chart Update, Miley Cyrus’s new EP She Is Coming starts at 15, and British rock band Yonaka could land in the Top 20 with their debut album Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow at 19.

Doves see their first two albums, The Last Broadcast (22) and Lost Souls (23), return to the Top 40 following their limited edition reissue on vinyl, and Amsterdam-based Pip Blom is heading for a Top 40 debut with Boat at 30.

Finally, Blues-rock outfit The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band could score their first Top 40 album with The Traveler (36), just ahead of Old Star by Norwegian black-metal duo Darkthrone (38).

See the full Official Albums Chart Update Top 100

Article image: Chris Saunders