Billie Eilish poised to top album charts with Happier Than Ever

Billie Eilish looks set to secure the number one position in this week’s album charts with her second album.

As of August 2, Happier Than Ever, which was released on July 30, has secured more physical sales than the rest of the top ten combined, according to the Official Charts Company.

The album, her follow-up to her double-platinum debut When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, has also had the most downloads in the week so far.

Three songs from the album, the title track Happier Than Ever, Getting Older and Oxytocin, are also on track to debut in the Top 40 of the UK singles chart this week.

The album has received a positive reception from critics, including El Hunt of NME who gave the album a maximum score of five stars and hailed it as establishing Eilish as “one of her generation’s most significant pop artists”.

The 19-year-old American singer, who writes and produces her work alongside her brother Finneas O’Connell, had a launch party for the album over the weekend.

A BBC One documentary titled Billie Eilish: Up Close, which discusses her whirlwind success story over the past three years with Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo, was also released on Saturday evening.

Eilish’s chart debut will knock rapper Dave’s We’re All Alone In This Together from its number one position the previous week, but he still maintained the position as the most-streamed album across the past weekend.

The grime star previously had the biggest opening week of 2021 so far with 74,000 chart sales, according to the Official Charts Company.

Prince’s first posthumous album of unreleased materials since his death in 2016, Welcome 2 America, looks like it might debut into the charts in third position, which would make it his 22nd top ten UK album.

This would push Oliva Rodrigo’s debut album Sour down to number four, while Southampton rock band Creeper are set to enter at number five with their new EP, American Noir.