Mumford & Sons' Babel has become the fastest-selling artist album in the UK so far this year with two days of trading this week still to go.
The newly-issued Gentlemen Of The Road/Island title had sold nearly 123,000 copies since the beginning of the week by the end of trading on Thursday, according to the Official Charts Company. That means it has already beaten the previous best first week sales of 116,745 copies achieved by Polydor act Lana Del Rey's Born To Die at the begninning of February. Virgin artist Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events started with 113,319 sales two weeks after that.
With the chance to accumulate more sales on Friday and Saturday, Mumford & Sons' album has every chance of topping 150,000 sales first week on its way to giving the band their first UK chart-topper. Debut album Sigh No More peaked at 2. Babel is also shaping up to achieve the highest week-one sales in the US this year with estimates putting its initial sales at upwards of 600,000 copies.
Trailing Mumford & Sons in second place by around 90,000 sales in the UK is the new Green Day Reprise/Warner Bros album Uno, while RCA act Pink's The Truth About Love falls 3-2 in the week to date and Vertigo/Mercury signings The Killers are at 4 having deuted at 1 last Sunday with Battle Born.
Britain's Got Talent 2012 runners-up Jonathan & Charlotte's Syco debut Together is new at 5 in the latest Sales Flashes, while Deadmau5's newly-issued Mau5trap/Parlophone album Album Title Goes Here appears at 7.
Island act Psy's Gangam Style is moving ahead in its quest to become the first ever Korean-language track to top the UK singles chart. Up to the end of Thursday it was around 14,000 sales ahead of Epic/Phonogenic act The Script featuring will.i.am's Hall Of Fame, which secured a second week at No 1 last Sunday. Atlantic act Flo Rida's I Cry climbs 9-3, Ne-Yo's Motown/Mercury single Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love) holds at 4 and Taylor Swift's Mercury track We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together rises 6-5. MInistry of Sound's DJ Fresh has the week's biggest new single with The Feeling featuring Ravaughn new at 10 in the midweeks.
The full midweek singles and albums charts are on musicweek.com.
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