LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts) Take That and
Band Aid 30 have a chart battle on their hands, as These Days (2) and Do They Know It's Christmas? (1) go head-to-head for the Official Singles Chart top spot this week.
Do They Know It's Christmas? is currently just over 1500 copies ahead of Take That's These Days - the group's first release as a trio, following the departure of Jason
Orange back in September.
Serving as the lead single from the group's upcoming seventh studio album III, These Days is also on track to score
Take That their 26th UK Top 40 hit.
Band Aid 30's Do They Know It's Christmas? - which counts Ed Sheeran, Rita Ora,
Sam Smith and
One Direction among its ranks - last week became the fastest-selling single of the year so far, ending its first week with bumper sales of over 312,000 copies and a total sale to date of 351,000 copies.
Holding firm at Number 3 midweek is Olly Murs' Wrapped Up FT Travie McCoy. Wrapped Up is the first single from Olly's new album Never Been Better, which currently sits at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart Update.
Labrinth is set to score a sixth Top 10 single on Sunday with Jealous (4) while
McBusted are on track for their first, with debut single as a group, Air Guitar (5).
New releases
Further to Take That's These Days (2), Labrinth's Jealous (4) and McBusted's Air Guitar (5), there are seven new entries in today's Official Singles Chart Top 40.
British newcomer
James Bay is on track to score his debut UK Top 20 single this weekend with Hold Back The River (13).
Years & Years also look set to score their first solo Top 20 with Desire (15), having previously featured on Magician's Top 10 hit, Sunlight.
New at 16 are
David Guetta and
Emeli Sande with What I Did For Love (16), trailed by
Kiesza with No Enemiesz (19).
American composer
James Newton
Howard enters at 29 with The Hanging Tree. The track is lifted from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 soundtrack and is performed by actress Jennifer Lawrence.
Finally, featured on the new Platinum Edition of Beyonce's self-titled LP, 7/11 enters the Top 40 at 37 today.
- Official Albums Chart Update:
Olly Murs on course for third Number 1 album
Olly Murs is on course for his third Number 1 record on the Official Albums Chart this week.
The singer's fourth studio LP Never Been Better is currently leading the albums race on today's Official Chart Update, 25,000 copies ahead of its closest competitor, One Direction's Four.
Olly's previous chart-topping albums, 2012's Right Place Right Time and In Case You Didn't Know in 2011, have each sold over a million copies, having shifted 1.26 million and 1.08 million respectively.
Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran's X continues its reign inside the Top 10 at Number 3, Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour is at 4, and Pink Floyd's The Endless River completes the Top 5.
- New entries and high climbers
David Guetta debuts at Number 6 with his sixth album Listen. The collection, which includes the singles Dangerous, Bad and Number 1 Lovers On The Sun, could earn the French DJ his third UK Top 10 album this Sunday.
New at Number 11 on today's Update is Susan Boyle's sixth album Hope, and Boyzone's Motown covers album Dublin To
Detroit enters at 12.
Musican
Jools Holland lands at Number 17 with Sirens Of Song. The record - recorded with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra - includes collaborations with Amy Winehouse,
Kylie Minogue and Emeli Sande.
Further down the chart, Dave Arch & The Strictly Band's Strictly Come Dancing is at Number 20, and Barry Manilow's My
Dream Duets - which features
Marilyn Monroe and Whitney
Houston - starts at 21.
Finally, Mary J Blige's 13th studio album The London Sessions debuts at 31, and New Zealand musical trio
Sol3 Mio are at 36 with their self-titled album.
