Ed Sheeran's 'x' debuts at No. 1 as fastest selling album of 2014

Ed Sheeran has sailed to the top of the UK albums chart with his second LP ‘x’.

‘x’ (pronounced “multiply”) has sold 182,000 copies in its first week and has overtaken Coldplay’s ‘Ghost Stories’ by 14,000 units to become the fastest selling album of the year so far.

The rest of this week’s top five is made up by Sam Smith’s ‘In The Lonely Hour’, up one to No. 2, last week’s chart topper from Lana Del Rey is down two as ‘Ultraviolence’ now sits at No. 3, the aforementioned ‘Ghost Stories’ by Coldplay is a non-mover at No. 4, and Paolo Nutini’s ‘Caustic Love’ is up two to No. 5.

Other than Ed Sheeran, new entries to the rest of the album chart come from Mastodon at No. 10 ‘Once More ‘Round The Sun’ and Stevie Wonder’s 1976 LP ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’ has re-entered at No. 14 ahead of his headline performance at the Calling Festival in London tonight (June 29).

Glastonbury performances and coverage have already started to affect album sales. Elbow’s ‘The Take Off And Landing Of Everything’ climbs 39 places to reach No. 19. Despite a disrupted set thanks to stormy weather, ‘Home’ by Rudimental is up 59 places No. 24. Headliners Arcade Fire are this week’s highest climber with ‘Reflektor’ flying 85 places up the chart to No. 25. Lily Allen’s ‘Sheezus’ is up 12 to No. 37, and Haim’s ‘Days Are Gone’ is up 52 places to No. 40.

Watch Ed Sheeran live at Glastonbury below: