Lionel Richie heads to number one

• 1 July 2015
 
• From the section

The star played the Sunday afternoon "legend" slot on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage

Soul star Lionel Richie is heading to number one as he enjoys a post-Glastonbury sales boost.

Fans and converts have been snapping up his greatest hits album, The Definitive Collection, in the wake of Sunday's televised performance.

As a result, the 2003 album is in pole position in the official midweek chart update - a jump of 103 places.

"When they told me this morning, I was screaming like a kid with his first hit record," Richie told the BBC.

"I'm trying to be very calm about this, but there's no way you can be calm about this. This is like Christmas."

Featuring hits such as All Night Long, Hello and Machine Gun (with The Commodores), The Definitive Collection's previous chart peak was number 10.

According to the Official Charts Company, 17 of the top 40 albums in the midweek chart are Glastonbury acts, including The Who, Paloma Faith, James Bay and Jungle.

Last weekend, Florence and the Machine saw their third album, How Big How Blue How Beautiful, return to number one in the wake of their Friday night Glastonbury headline slot.

The album leapfrogged newcomers Wolf Alice, who had been number one in the midweek update.

Richie's sales spike may not last until the weekend, however, so all eyes will be on the full countdown this weekend.

It will be the final time the chart is revealed on a Sunday, after which the music industry moves to a new, synchronised release day - with all new music coming out on Fridays.

The first Friday chart will be published on 10 July.

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on Wednesday, July 1, 2015