His second Epic album In Case You Didn't Know looks poised to debut at number one this coming Sunday after selling more than 50,000 copies during its first day of release, according to the Official Charts Company. Rihanna's Def Jam/Mercury album Talk That Talk, which debuted at one last weekend, has also now been overtaken by Reprise/Warner Bros act Michael Buble's Christmas, which moves 3-2, while Syco acts Il Divo and One Direction complete the top five sellers.
Murs is also now outselling Rihanna on the singles chart with his Dance With Me Tonight around 2,000 sales ahead of the Barbadian superstar's Calvin Harris collaboration We Found Love, which topped the chart again last Sunday after the Murs single led in the early midweeks. However, it appears too late for the one-time X Factor runner-up to make it to number one as both tracks are being outsold significantly by the newly-issued charity single from the reality TV show.
The X Factor Finalists 2011's cover of the Rose Royce ballad Wishing On A Star had sold 56,328 units up to the close of business on Monday with Murs more than 35,000 sales behind in second place and Rihanna third.
It is shaping up to be a good week for Syco with Wishing On A Star almost a certainty to top the singles chart, while the company's newly-issued Il Divo album Wicked Game is the week so far's fourth biggest artist album. It is just ahead of the same company's One Direction album Up All Night, which debuted at two last Sunday and is now down to fifth place.
Exactly a year ago Take That's Progress was heading for its third week at number one and now their accompanying live album Progress Live is readying a chart debut, albeit more modestly. The Polydor album is currently showing up as a new entry at number six.
This week's market further throws the spotlight on the relative fortunes of Joe McElderry and Olly Murs since they finished in first and second places respectively on The X Factor 2009. While Murs' new album should debut at number one this week, McElderry's own brand new album, the UCJ-handled Classic Christmas, is down in 12th place.
Murs performed on last Sunday's X Factor results show, as did Island/Lava's Jessie J whose first album and latest single are both now experiencing big sales uplifts. Sales of the title track of the album Who You Are are up 168% on the week to send it 37-7, while the album's sales have risen nearly 50% to move it 29-23.
In the same week Take That's live album arrives, a new Kylie Minogue concert recording will also show up in the chart. The Parlophone-issued Aphrodite Les Folies - Live In London is presently appearing as a new entry at 37, six places above Island's newly-released Greatest Hits by N-Dubz. Universal's Kelly Rowland album Here I Am arrives in 54th place, meaning, with Gary Barlow part of Take That's line-up and Tulisa Contostavlos in N-Dubz, all three of the performing X Factor judges will have new entries on the chart this week.
Back on the singles chart and Virgin's Emeli Sande will score her second hit with Daddy currently debuting in 18th place, while the Christmas season has truly arrived with Warner Bros's Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl classic Fairytale Of New York set to make its annual return to the Top 40 on Sunday when it is likely to be joined by Mariah Carey's own enduring RCA-handled All I Want For Christmas Is You.
The full midweek singles and albums charts are on musicweek.com.
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