U.K. MIDWEEKS: TAYLOR TAKES OVER

Taylor Swift’s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (EMI) is already 2024’s fastest-selling album in the U.K. The set also rules the midweek singles chart.

TTP:D has shifted 197k sales at the halfway point. It’s set to become Swift’s 12th U.K. Official Albums #1 on Friday. It could be her biggest opening week if it beats the 205k U.K. chart units Midnights sold in its first seven days on sale in 2022.

Three tracks by Swift eye a takeover on this week’s Official Singles Chart. “Fortnight” f/ Post Malone is currently #1, “The Tortured Poets Department” is #2 and “So Long, London” is #3.

Elsewhere on albums, Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter (EMI) could be the band's highest-charting album in 11 years at #2. The set has been bolstered by an exclusive Record Store Day U.K. vinyl variant, which went on sale on Saturday.

UB40’s compilation, UB45 (Sono Recording Group), which also had an exclusive RSD release, is set to debut at #3. Blur’s former #1, Parklife (Parlophone), could re-enter the Top 5 for the first time in 29 years at #5. It was reissued on 30th anniversary zoetrope vinyl for RSD.

Other releases from the day are impacting the midweek Top 10: The Dark Side of the Moon (Parlophone) by Pink Floyd is at #6; Orbital’s eponymous debut on London Records is at #7; Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (Warner Records) is at #9; and The 1975’s Live From Gorilla (Dirty Hit) is at #10.

Elsewhere on the U.K.’s Official Singles midweek chart, Mark Ambor’s “Belong Together” (Hundred Days Records) could rise one to #12, while “I Don’t Wanna Wait” (Warner Music U.K.) by David Guetta and OneRepublic is set to rise seven to #18.