Paul Weller is chasing his sixth UK number one album with Fat Pop.
The Modfather is leading the race for the top spot after his 16th studio album scored the most CD and vinyl sales of the week so far, the Official Charts Company said.
As of Monday, Fat Pop holds an advantage of almost 13,000 chart sales over its closest competition.
If he holds on to the lead, Weller, 62, will secure his second number one album in less than 12 months following the success of On Sunset, which was released in July.
His closest competition comes from US rapper J. Cole with The Off-Season.
The album is “far and beyond” the most streamed so far this week, the Official Charts Company said, and is on track to become Cole’s third top 10.
Rag’n’Bone Man is third with the current number one album Life By Misadventure, but has racked up the most downloads across the last 72 hours of the sales window.
Funk album Daddy’s Home from Grammy-winning US star St. Vincent is fourth in the midweek charts, while The Black Keys complete the top five with covers album Delta Kream.
Further down the charts and Sir Paul and Linda McCartney’s album Ram – a number one in 1971 – could push its way back into the top 40 for the first time since January 1972 following a vinyl reissue.
That was at 27 midweek.
