Olly Murs, Emeli Sande and Cliff Richard Battle for U.K. Chart Supremacy
11/15/2016 by Lars Brandle
It’s a tight race at the top of the U.K. albums chart where sales heavyweights Olly Murs, Emeli Sande and Cliff Richard are battling it out for the crown.
Murs is on top at the midweek point with his fifth studio set, 24 HRS (RCA). If it stays at the helm come Friday, 24 HRS will become the one-time X-Factor U.K. contestant's fourth successive No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.
Sande’s comeback album Long Live The Angels (Virgin) is at No. 2 on the Official Albums Chart Update. Angels is the followup to the Scottish singer’s debut Our Version Of Events from February 2012, which holds the record for the longest consecutive stretch inside the Top 10 for a female artist (67 weeks).
Legendary British hitmaker Cliff Richard is close behind in third place with Just… Fabulous Rock ‘N’ Roll (Sony Music), his first studio LP since 2013’s The Fabulous Rock ‘N’ Roll Songbook.
Richard, who released his debut single “Move It” back in August 1958, should earn his 44th Top 10 album when the new chart is published late Friday. Fabulous is, astonishingly, Richard’s 101st album release.
A pair of Leonard Cohen albums are impacting the Top 20 as fans mourn the Canadian singer and songwriter’s death. Cohen’s final studio album You Want It Darker (Columbia) rises 29-6 and his hits set The Essential re-enters the chart at No. 19.
Sting's 12th studio album 57th & 9th (A&M) is on track to take out the 10th position, one place above Simple Minds' Acoustic (Caroline) collection at No. 11. The posthumous David Bowie compilation Legacy (Parlophone) is poised to drop at No. 13.
On the U.K. Singles Chart Update, Clean Bandit appears to be running away with another chart title for “Rockabye” (Atlantic). It’s leading the midweek chart with a “healthy lead” over Little Mix’s “Shout Out To My Ex” (Syco), according to the Official Charts Company.