Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events is holding off a handful of newly-issued titles led by Bloc Party's Four as it bids to spend a fifth week topping the UK artist albums chart.
Having been behind Bloc Party at the beginning of the week, Sande's Virgin album has now taken a narrow lead, according to the Official Charts Company. That leaves the band in second place on the midweeks with their fourth album and first on Frenchkiss Records via Cooperative Music. Their first three albums were on Wichita.
There has been a near four-year gap between studio albums for Bloc Party, but the wait for a new album from The Darkness has been even longer. Their second set One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back came out in 2005 and now the reformed band have delivered a third, Hot Cakes, for their new label home of PIAS Recordings and it appears as a new entry at four in the latest Sales Flashes with three other brand new albums lined up immediately below it. In sixth place is UK singer-songwriter Jessie Ware's debut Island/PMR offering Devotion, while Atlantic US artist Trey Songz' fifth abum Chapter 5 will follow on the back of Top 10 hit Simply Amazing by giving him first ever UK albums chart entry. It is ranked new at six at present, while one-time X Factor contestant Aiden Grimshaw's RCA debut Misty Eye is new at seven.
Despite sales rising 22% in the week so far, Paloma Faith's RCA album Fall To Grace drops 2-3, whiel Asylum/Atlantic act Ed Sheeran's + falls 3-8 and Rihanna's Def Jam/Mercury-issued Talk That Talk drops 8-9. Meanwhile, the Sour Marsh Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds album could be returning to the Top 10 this weekend with sales rising 27% to progress it 20-10.
A new Sony Julio Iglesisias compilation called 1 is showing up as a new entry at 16, just ahead of Nonesuch/Warner Bros act The Black Keys whose El Camino's sales are up 151% on the week to lift it 50-17. Also set to appear in the chart this Sunday is fellow Nonesuch artist Ry Cooder with new album Election Special, which will be joined by brand new albums from Universal Republic's Owl City and Dead Oceans' Billy Fay.
Sam & The Womp's newly-issued Bom Bom has already sold more than 50,000 copies this week on its way to likely debut at No 1 on the singles chart this coming Sunday. The One More Tune/Stiff release via Warner Bros is outselling its closest rival - Columbia/Roc Nation act Rita Ora's How We Do (Party) - by more than two copies to one. While Ora dips from the top, where she debuted last Sunday, Emeli Sande's Virgin single Read All About It Pt 3 holds at three. It was one of many songs last week to see big sales lifts after featuring in the Olympics closing ceremony. While its own sales are only down 2% on the week, others are declining much more, including Fiction/Poldyor act Elbow's One Day Like This, which shot up to four last weekend but is down to 16 on the midweeks with sales dropping 60%.
In the US Taylor Swift last week secured the highest one-week sales by a woman in history with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together shifting 623,000 copies. Nothing quite as spectacular will happen in the UK but the track is set to give the Mercury artist her first Top 10 single since Love Story peaked at two in 2008. It crops up as a new entry at six in the latest midweeks, behind another new release, 4th & Broadway/Island act Devlin's (All Along The) Watchtower featuring Ed Sheeran in fifth position. One More Tune/Warner Bros signing Wiley's Heatwave featuring Ms D drops 2-4, while Florence & The Machine's Island single Spectrum holds at seven. Columbia single We'll Be Coming Back by Calvin Harris featuring Example drops 5-8 and Trey Songz' Atlantic-issued Simply Amazing falls 8-9. Island act Angel's Wonderful gains one place to 10.
Atlantic's Canadian band Simple Plan are heading for their first UK Top 40 hit since When I'm Gone reached 26 in 2003 with Summer Paradise new at 11, while Helium 3/Warner Bros at Muse's Madness is new at 33. Meanwhile, the Slamjamz-issued Public Enemy track Harder Than You Think rises 56-14 with sales up 484% on the week after being used in a trailer for Channel 4's Paralympics coverage.
The full midweek singles and albums charts are on musicweek.com.
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