Today's Official Charts Midweek Sales Flash is in – and appropriately enough for Independence Day, US pop-punkers Blink-182 are leading the album charts.

Blink have never had a UK No.1 before, but their seventh album California, released on new label home BMG, has sold 17,372 copies so far, more than double the sales of its nearest contender, Coldplay’s A Head Full Of Dreams at No.2 with 8,033 sales.

The next highest new entry on the album chart looks set to ...