Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism will be hard to catch in the U.K. chart race.
Based on midweek sales and streaming data captured by the Official Charts Company, the British pop singer’s third studio album has a healthy lead.
Radical Optimism is outselling the next-best-placed LP, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, by 2 to 1, and should storm home for Lipa’s second leader.
Assuming it continues on its path, Radical Optimism will become Lipa’s first album to debut at No. 1. Her self-titled 2017 debut Dua Lipa peaked at No. 3 and has logged 354 weeks on the frame, while her sophomore effort from 2020, Future Nostalgia, climbed to No. 1 in its second week. Future Nostalgia logged four weeks at No. 1, and has now clocked 203 weeks on the Official Chart – and counting.
Radical Optimism is already a U.K. hit, yielding three top 10 singles chart entries: “Houdini (No. 2 peak), “Training Season” (No. 4) and “Illusion” (No. 9).
With Dua Lipa’s latest effort flying high, Swift’s Tortured Poets looks set to dip 1-2 after two weeks at the chart penthouse. It’s TayTay’s 12th U.K. No. 1 album.
Meanwhile, Hampshire, England rock artist Frank Turner is on track for a podium finish with Undefeated. It’s new at No. 3 on the Official Chart Update, and is set to become Turner’s sixth U.K. top 10 appearance.
Kelly Jones, frontman of Welsh indie-rock favorites Stereophonics, could nab his solo career best with Inevitable Incredible, his second LP. Inevitable Incredible is on course for a No. 4 start, well ahead of the No. 8 best for his debut solo effort Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day from 2020. As a member of Stereophonics, Jones has eight U.K. No. 1s.
Finally, Scottish indie-pop act Camera Obscura is peering in on a first-ever U.K. top 10 appearance with Look To The East, Look To The West, their first studio album in over a decade. It bows at No. 10 on the chart blast, and should give Camera Obscura a third U.K. top 40.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published late Friday, May 10.