Usher and Amy MacDonald take on Gary Barlow in Official Albums Chart r

With less than 1,400 copies separating the Top 3, Gary Barlow, Usher and Amy MacDonald battle it out in the race for this week's Official Albums Chart Number 1! Plus: see the Official Albums Chart Update Top 40 in full!

With less than 1,400 copies separating today’s Official Update Top 3, Usher and Amy Macdonald are battling it out with current chart topper Gary Barlow and The Commonwealth Band in the race to this week’s Official Albums Chart Number 1.

Gary Barlow And The Commonwealth Band are currently in pole position with Sing, which topped the Official Albums Chart upon its release a fortnight ago. Sing contains the Queen’s official Diamond Jubilee single of the same name which was co-written by Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and features contributions from musicians from all over the Commonwealth, including HRH Prince Harry on tambourine.

Usher, who looks set to score his fifth Top 5 album this Sunday, is currently at Number 2 with Looking 4 Myself. The album is the US R&B star’s seventh full-length release, and features the tracks Climax and Scream, which both went Top 5 in the Official Singles Chart earlier this year.

Amy MacDonald is at Number 3 with her third album, Life In A Beautiful Light. The Scottish singer/songwriter’s previous albums 2007’s This Is The Life, and its 2010 follow-up, A Curious Thing, both look set to re-enter this week’s Top 200. They are currently at Number 88 and Number 134, respectively.

Today’s Official Albums Chart Update Top 5 is completed by Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto (4) and Ed Sheeran’s + (5).

New entries

In addition to Usher (2) and Amy MacDonald (3), there are eight other new entries in today’s Official Albums Chart Update.

Indie rockers Maximo Park are new in at Number 6 with their fourth album, National Health, while British electro outfit Hot Chip look set to debut at Number 9 with In Our Hands. New Fleetwood Mac collection 25 years – The Chain is at 12, while DJ and producer Orlando Higginbottom,AKA Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, is at 19 with his debut album, Trouble.

New XL Recordings signing Bobby Womack is at Number 25 with The Bravest Man In The Universe, while Best Of albums from Johnny Cash (The Classics, 29), Stone Roses (The Very Best Of, 31) and Neil Young (Official Release Series Discs 1-4, 36) complete this week’s Official Albums Chart Update new entries.

This week's Official Albums Chart Update Top 40 is as follows:

01	SING	GARY BARLOW/COMMONWEALTH BAND
02	LOOKING 4 MYSELF	USHER
03	LIFE IN A BEAUTIFUL LIGHT	AMY MACDONALD
04	MYLO XYLOTO	COLDPLAY
05	+	ED SHEERAN
06	THE NATIONAL HEALTH	MAXIMO PARK
07	OUR VERSION OF EVENTS	EMELI SANDE
08	NUMBER ONES	BEE GEES
09	IN OUR HEADS	HOT CHIP
10	FALL TO GRACE	PALOMA FAITH
11	TALK THAT TALK	RIHANNA
12	25 YEARS - THE CHAIN	FLEETWOOD MAC
13	21	ADELE
14	GRACELAND	PAUL SIMON
15	BOYS DON'T CRY	RUMER
16	WHO YOU ARE	JESSIE J
17	THE BEST OF	KYLIE MINOGUE
18	BORN TO DIE	LANA DEL REY
19	TROUBLE	TOTALLY ENORMOUS EXTINCT
20	STRANGELAND	KEANE
21	EVERY KINGDOM	BEN HOWARD
22	ANTHEMS	RUSSELL WATSON
23	LEGEND	BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
24	ONE DAY I'M GOING TO SOAR	DEXYS
25	THE BRAVEST MAN IN THE UNIVERSE	BOBBY WOMACK
26	STRONGER	KELLY CLARKSON
27	WATCH THE THRONE	JAY-Z & KANYE WEST
28	WRECKING BALL	BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
29	THE CLASSICS	JOHNNY CASH
30	THAT'S WHY GOD MADE THE RADIO	BEACH BOYS
31	THE VERY BEST OF	STONE ROSES
32	IRON MAN - THE BEST OF	BLACK SABBATH
33	BRING HIM HOME	ALFIE BOE
34	AMERICANA	NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE
35	ULTIMATE HITS - ROCK AND ROLL NEVER	BOB SEGER
36	OFFICIAL RELEASE SERIES DISCS 1-4	NEIL YOUNG
37	LONELY ARE THE BRAVE	MAVERICK SABRE
38	SOME NIGHTS	FUN
39	MAKING MIRRORS	GOTYE
40	SOUVENIR - THE SINGLES 2004-2012	KAISER CHIEFS