Michael Buble, Placebo and Machine Gun Kelly go head to head in the race for this week’s Number 1 album

Michael Bublé, Placebo and Machine Gun Kelly are entering into a close battle for the UK’s Number 1 album this week.

Canadian crooner’s Bublé’s first new album in four years, Higher is currently leading the race to top the Official Albums Chart, though British rock duo Placebo’s eighth studio album Never Let Me Go is only a few hundred copies behind at Number 2.

If Higher were to maintain its lead, it would be Bublé’s fifth UK Number 1 album following Crazy Love (2009), Christmas (2011), To Be Loved (2013) and Love (2018). See Michael Buble’s Official Charts history in full here. However if Placebo can overtake with Never Let Me Go it would mark Placebo’s first-ever chart-topping album in the UK - find out some more chart facts about Placebo here.

At the midweek mark, Machine Gun Kelly’s fourth album Mainstream Sellout (3) is the UK’s most-streamed album of the week so far, putting the rapper firmly in with a shot of this week’s Official Albums Chart crown.

Following the sad news this weekend that Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins has died aged 50, the band’s Greatest Hits vaults 72 places all the way into the midweek Top 5 at Number 4, while live album Skin And Bones could also take a spot in the Top 40 at Number 36. More on this here.

Meanwhile, Jamaican reggae artist Koffee is heading for her first Official UK Albums Chart entry with debut album Gifted (6), and former Bros member Matt Goss could score his first solo Top 10 album with The Beautiful Unknown (7).

English rock band Stone Foundation could also gain their first Top 10 entry with Outside Looking In at Number 9, while indie icon Bon Iver could see his influential second album Bon Iver, Bon Iver return to the chart at Number 10 thanks to a 10^th anniversary reissue. It previously peaked at Number 4 in 2011.

Outside the Top 10, New Zealand folk singer-songwriter Aldous Harding’s fourth record Warm Chris could be her highest-charting yet (18), while electronic musician Jon Hopkins is another new entry with Music For Psychedelic Therapy (30).

Finally, rock band Loop are looking to earn their second UK Top 40 album with Sonancy, tracking to debut at Number 40.

See the full Official Albums Chart Update Top 100 here