Ed Sheeran set to claim the Official Albums and Singles Chart double

As Ed Sheeran’s new music takes over the charts across the world this week, the singer-songwriter is on track to claim the ‘double’ on home soil as he charges to Number 1 on the Official UK Albums and Singles Chart with bumper sales.

On today’s Official Chart Update, which looks at how the charts are shaping up at the midway point of the week, Ed’s third studio record ÷ has shifted 432,000 in its first three days on sale across physical (63% of its sales make-up so far), digital (31%) and streaming equivalent sales (6%).

Based on its current sales pattern, ÷ is expected to exceed sales of 500,000 this week, which would give him the biggest opening week for an album since Adele’s 25, which logged 800,307 sales in its first seven days. The biggest one week total of any album in 2016 was David Bowie’s Blackstar, which sold 143,455 last January.

The early success of ÷ is also driving fans to Ed’s previous two albums – 2014’s x is currently at Number 4 and + is at 5.

Ed is also dominating the Official Singles Chart this week, with all 16 tracks from ÷ on course to enter the Top 40, nine of which are inside the Top 10, led by Shape Of You (1), Castle On The Hill (2), Galway Girl (3) and Perfect (4).

New entries and high climbers

Aside from Ed Sheeran’s new entries, two more songs are on course to enter this week’s singles Top 40: Lorde’s new single Green Light is currently at Number 24, and a new version of Little Mix’s No More Sad Songs featuring Machine Gun Kelly is at 34.

Over on the Official Albums Chart, seven more new albums are on track to land inside this week’s Top 40: Windy City by US bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss (6), Collabro’s third album Home (7), Sleaford Mods’ 10th record English Tapas (8) and Daniel O’Donnell’s Back Home Again (10).

Further down, Last Place by US indie band Grandaddy opens at 12, Volcano by British band Temples starts at 19, and The Gold Collection by Irish musical duo Foster & Allen is at 28.

Notes to Editors

Notes to Editors
Chart information quoted from this release must be credited to the Official Charts Company, online outlets please link to www.officialcharts.com

About Official Charts Company
The Official Charts Company are the providers of the UK's only official music and video charts, as seen at OfficialCharts.com, on BBC Radio 1, MTV, Music Week, The Sun, Daily Star, NME and many more. Compiling its charts purely from sales and streaming information gathered across all key distribution (or entertainment) channels including all major high street retail chains, independent stores, supermarkets, mail order internet retailers and digital music and streaming service providers. This market research sample equates to 99% of the total UK singles market; 98% of the total UK albums market and 90% of the total UK DVD market.

The Official Charts Company is a joint venture between record labels' body the BPI and ERA, the Entertainment Retailers Association. The Official Charts Company are responsible for the commissioning, marketing, distribution and management of the UK's industry standard music charts and industry sales data.

About OfficialCharts.com
OfficialCharts.com is the new destination site of the UK’s Official Charts, delivering exclusive breaking chart news, video interviews with the week’s Official Number 1 artist, hot new releases and competitions to 2.5 million of the UK’s biggest chart fans monthly. You can access the full Official Singles and Official Albums Chart Top 100, published Fridays at 5.45pm, plus official genre and format charts for Rock, RnB, Dance, Streaming, Vinyl and many more. You can also search our historical chart archive from the Access The Archive box on the home page, here you can search the Official Charts Company archive by date, artist, song or album title or keyword.

View the Official Charts
The Official Charts Company publishes the full Official Singles Chart and Official Albums Charts Top 100 online at http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/ and http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/ . You can also search our historical chart archive from the Access The Archive box on the home page, here you can search the Official Charts Company archive by date, artist, song or album title or keyword.

Hear the Official Charts
The Official Chart with Greg James, Fridays 4 - 5.45pm, BBC Radio 1; BBC Radio 1 can be found on 97-99FM; on DAB Radio; online at bbc.co.uk/radio1; and on Freeview, Sky, Virgin and Freesat.

The Official Chart Update with Greg James, Mondays 5.30 - 5.45pm, gives music fans a weekly sneak preview of the Official Singles and Albums Charts, providing a "half-time" bulletin on his BBC Radio 1 Show, letting music fans in on who is leading the way in the Official Singles & Albums Charts ahead of the Friday Official Chart announcement. The Update reveals how the runners and riders are selling and streaming in the first three days of the chart week (Friday through to Sunday), outlining the hottest new tracks of the week so far, as well as the new entries and highest climbers.