Ed Sheeran’s ‘Subtract’ Sprints to U.K. Chart Lead

Ed Sheeran’s sixth U.K. chart title is within reach, as – (Subtract) stockpiles a massive midweek lead.

Based on sales and streaming data at the halfway mark, Sheeran’s Asylum LP is already the U.K.’s fastest-selling album of 2023, the Official Charts Company reports.

With no major new titles threatening Sheeran’s pursuit of the crown, the English singer and songwriter should nab his sixth consecutive U.K. No. 1 – a streak that includes all four of his mathematics-themed sets, and 2019’s No. 6 Collaborations Project.

Subtract has already racked-up more than 56,000 combined units, more than any album has notched during a full-frame this year, according to the OCC.

The previous mark was owned by Lana Del Rey’s Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, which accumulated 41,000 chart units during its first week.

Sheeran appears to be everywhere, all at once. The singer and songwriter performed on American Idol last Sunday, he won a high-profile copyright lawsuit last week, he’s the subject of a special four-part Disney+ docuseries, The Sum Of It All, he’s set to perform at the 2023 ACM Awards, and, yes, he’s currently on tour.

Also eyeing a U.K. top 10 debut is Manchester rapper Tunde with First Lap (via Tunde), new at No. 3 on the chart blast; former Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan’s first solo album The Reckoning (Destruct), at No. 4; and Therapy? with Hard Cold Fire (Marshall) at No. 9, which could net the veteran Northern Irish rock outfit a third career top 10 album, and highest-charting effort since 1995’s Infernal Love.

Finally, Katy Perry’s performance at King Charles III’s Coronation Concert over the weekend has handed an immediate boost to the U.S. pop superstar catalog. Perry’s sophomore set Teenage Dream (Virgin), a leader following its release in 2011, is set to reenter the chart at No. 40. Teenage Dream features “Firework,” with which she closed her set and dedicated to the king, saying, “Thank you for bringing out the firework in so many young people.”

All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Albums Chart is published Friday (May 12).