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The race for the 1,000th No.1 in album in British history is on, with the winner to be announced this Sunday.
Looking to knock Lady Gaga's ARTPOP off the top spot are Robbie Williams with Swings Both Ways, JLS with their Greatest Hits and Jake Bugg with Shangri La. It's fair to say that most readers of these pages will be rooting for Bugg, but it's not good news as he is a rank outsider to take the crown.
Robbie Williams is the favourite to score the historic No.1, and if he did it would at least have a sense of symmetry, as Songs For Swinging Lovers by Frank Sinatra was the first official No. 1 album way back in 1956. For the record, no one is saying that Swings Both Ways deserves to be compared favourably to Old Blue Eyes, but they are both swing albums at least.
Lady Gaga scored the 999th No. 1 with ARTPOP, but looks unlikely to hold the position. In case people were worried that music has gone downhill over the last 20 years, the 500th No. 1 in 1994 was Our Town, The Greatest Hits Of Deacon Blue. Make of that what you will.
Below: Jake Bugg rocks Manchester
