Beyonce and Jay-Z album fights 5 Seconds Of Summer for US Number 1 - it’s VERY close

The couple dropped their new record Everything Is Love on Saturday night last week, and are reported to be tracking to about 70,000 sales in the chart week.

5 Seconds of Summer’s new album YoungBlood, which has a near two-day advantage having come out on Friday (the first day of the tracking week), is marginally ahead on forecasted sales: sitting around 90,000.

But when streaming is factored in, things are very different: The Carters pull out in front to around 120,000 units, according to Idolator. 5 Seconds of Summer have a less pronounced boost, rising to around 113-118,000 overall.

If these projections are correct, it would mean 5SOS score the week’s biggest-selling album - but Beyonce and Jay-Z would nab the Billboard 200 Number 1 spot thanks to an exceptional performance on streaming platforms.

Christina Aguilera is also selling well but is not competing for Number 1.

Her latest album Liberation, which arrives six years after 2012’s Lotus, is tracking to somewhere between the 68,000 and 73,000 mark - enough to put her in fourth place.

That would be three places higher than Lotus, and a great achievement considering neither of Liberation’s singles have caught fire on the Hot 100.

Aguilera’s English-language non-Christmas studio albums before Lotus all made the Top 3: her eponymous debut hit No1, as did 2006’s Back To Basics.

Her iconic 2002 release Stripped peaked at No2, and Bionic made No3 in 2010.

Here in the UK, 5SOS still lead The Carters by a considerable distance - but they’re not expected to be No1 when our charts are announced tomorrow.

Yesterday’s sales update showed Youngblood at No3, behind The Greatest Showman OST at No1 and George Ezra’s Staying At Tamara’s at No2.

The Carters are currently at No6, with Aguilera’s Liberation at No12.

5 Seconds of Summer’s self-titled first album hit No2 in the UK in 2014, while 2015’s Sounds Good Feels Good made No1.

All of Beyonce’s solo albums have hit No1 in the US, and they’ve all reached the Top 3 in the UK.