Ed Sheeran’s – (Subtract) is already the UK’s fastest-selling album of 2023 so far on its journey to become the pop superstar’s sixth consecutive Number 1 album, the Official Charts Company can confirm.
At the midweek mark, Subtract has already collected over 56,000 chart units, more than any other album released this year. The previous record was held by Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. which pushed 41,000 chart units in total during its first week.
Subtract comes hot on the heels of its lead single, the Official UK Number 1 Eyes Closed, and has been released alongside a special four-part Disney+ documentary, The Sum Of It All, which helps bring Ed’s decade-long Mathematics era to an end.
According to today’s Official Albums Chart Update, the record, produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner (Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams) is set to join all of Ed’s previous studio albums in topping the Official Albums Chart, including 2011’s +, 2014’s x, 2017’s ÷, 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project and 2021’s =. See where all of Ed Sheeran’s songs and albums charted.
Elsewhere, Nines’ Crop Circles 2 holds steady (2), while the Top 5 is completed with new entries from Manchester rapper Tunde with debut project First Lap (3) and former Kasabian front man Tom Meighan’s first solo album The Reckoning (4).
Northern Irish rockers Therapy? are looking to earn their third career Top 10 album with Hard Cold Fire (9), our prospective final new entry of the week, which could become their highest-charting record since 1995’s Infernal Love.
And finally, following her performance at King Charles III’s Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday, pop queen Katy Perry’s sophomore album Teenage Dream could re-enter the UK Top 40, at Number 40 midweek. It previously reached Number 1 in 2011 and contains the hit single Firework, which closed out her set at the ceremony.
