Rihanna has leapt above One Direction in her quest for a sixth UK No 1 single in her own right.
Having been a few thousand sales behind at the beginning of the week, the Barbadian's newly-issued Def Jam/Mercury track Diamonds is now around 5,000 copies ahead of Syco act One Direction's own brand new single Live While We're Young, according to the Official Charts Company.
If Diamonds does make it to No 1 this Sunday, it will be Rihanna's sixth UK chart-topper as the main artist, having first reached the summit in 2007 with Umbrella featuring Jay-Z and most recently last year with We Found Loe featuring Calvin Harris. She also topped the chart in 2009 as part of Jay-Z's Run This Town with Kanye West.
Polydor act Ellie Goulding's new single Anything That Could Happen should also join Diamonds and Live While We're Young in the top five this Sunday. It currenly registers as a new entry at 4, significantly behind third-placed Island act PSY whose Gangnam Style climbed to No 1 last Sunday. The Script's Epic/Phonogenic-issued Hall Of Fame featuring will.i.am completes the current midweek top five, while Atlantic act Jason Mraz's I Won't Give Up is on course to crack the UK Top 10 for the first time after being covered on The X Factor.
Muse are heading for a six-figure opening tally for their newly-issued Helium 3/Warner Bros album The 2nd Law, which leads the artist albums market in the week to date by around 80%. Gentlemen Of The Road/Island act Mumford & Sons' second album Babel is down to 2 after debuting at 1 last weekend with the year's highest opening artist sales, while RCA signing Pink's The Truth About Love, Vertigo/Mercury The Killers with Batle Born and Jonathan & Charlotte's Syco debut Together on midweek sales keep their positions of 3, 4 and 5 respectively achieved last Sunday.
Warner Music Entertainment's Overtones register as a new entry at 7 with Higher, while Van Morrison new Blue Note/Parlophone set Born To Sing - No Plan B is just outside the Top 10 at 11.
The full midweek singles and albums charts are on musicweek.com.
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