Sam Smith's debut album on track to knock Coldplay off Number 1

Sam Smith is set to follow up his Number 1 single, Stay With Me, with a Number 1 album!

After scoring his third UK Number 1 single on Sunday with Stay With Me, the rise and rise of Sam Smith looks set to continue this week: The 22-year-old singer/songwriter is on track to knock Coldplay’s Ghost Stories off the top of the Official Albums Chart with his debut full-length, In The Lonely Hour.

According to the latest Official Charts Company sales data, Sam is currently outselling the reigning chart toppers by nearly 20,000 copies at this midway stage.

Ghost Stories, which slides to Number 2 today, became Chris Martin and co’s sixth successive UK Number 1 on Sunday, and the fastest-selling artist album of 2014 so far, selling 168,000 copies during its first week on sale.

Michael Jackson’s Xscape is also down one place to Number 3 today, while Paloma Faith’s A Perfect Contradiction (Number 4) and Paolo Nutini’s Caustic Love complete the midweek Top 5.

New Entries

In addition to Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour (Number 1), there are seven other new entries on today’s Official Albums Chart Update.

Mariah Carey looks set to claim this week’s second highest new entry with Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse. The US singer’s 14th studio album enters at Number 6 today.

Originally released as a limited edition run for last month’s Record Store Day, Canadian singer/songwriter Neil Young’s 35th album, A Letter Home, is at Number 10 today after going on general sale on Monday (May 26).

Norwegian duo Royksopp and Swedish pop starlet Robyn enter at 12 today with their collaboration album, Do It Again. This week’s new entries are completed by Peter Andre’s Big Night (20), Sharon Van Etten’s Are We There (21), Echo And The Bunnymen’s Meteorites (23), and Bury Tomorrow’s Runes (24).

The Official Albums Chart Update Top 40 is as follows. The Official Albums Chart Top 100 will be posted in full, here, on Sunday at 7pm.

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