It’ll take a force of nature to stop Foo Fighters from storming to No. 1 on the U.K. albums survey.
The American rockers’ ninth album Concrete and Gold (Columbia) generated 43,000 combined sales in the first half of the chart cycle to outsell the rest of the top 10 combined, according to the Official Charts Company.
If Concrete and Gold stays solid when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published this Friday, it’ll be the band’s fourth U.K. No. 1 joining One By One (2002); Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (2007) and Wasting Light (2011).
Concrete and Gold is the followup to 2014’s Sonic Highways (89,000 first week copies), which was blown away for top spot by Pink Floyd’s final album The Endless River (139,000 copies).
Also poised to make a big splash this week is Gary Numan's Savage (Songs from a Broken World) (BMG), which opens at No. 2 on the Official Chart Updateand could mark the veteran electro-pop artist’s first top 10 since 1982, while supergroup Prophets of Rage is at No. 4 with its debut, self-titled Caroline set.
Sampha’s Process should enjoy a boost after taking out the Mercury Prize last week. The singer, songwriter and producer’s debut, which was declared the best British album of the year at a ceremony Thursday in central London, is set to return to the Official Albums Chart top 10 at No. 6, a new peak (the album reached No. 7 in February).
And there are spikes for Mercury Prize-nominated albums by Ed Sheeran (Divide is up 5-3 via Asylum), The xx (I See You up 86-60 via Young Turks Recordings) and Loyle Carner (Yesterday’s Gone up 144-91 via AMF).
Meanwhile, Yusuf, the artist formerly known as Yusuf Islam and Cat Stevens, could score his first top 10 album in eight years with The Laughing Apple (Decca), which starts at No. 10 on the midweek chart.
On the midweek singles chart, Sam Smith’s “Too Good At Goodbyes” (Capitol) is chasing a second week at the top. The British soul singer’s comeback track is at No. 1 on the Chart Update, some 2,000 combined sales ahead of Dua Lipa’ssecond-placed “New Rules” (Warner Bros).
Also Pink's “What About Us” (RCA) is at No. 3, Taylor Swift's “Look What You Made Me Do” (EMI) is at No. 4, and Little Mix’s collaboration with CNCO on the “Reggaeton Lento” remix (Syco Music) is up 7-5 after the release of its official video.
