Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail set to top album chart

Magna Carta Holy Grail looks set to become Jay-Z's first number one album.

According to the Official Chart Company, the album is on course to end Mumford & Sons' spell at the top of the albums chart.

The bands follow up album Babel rose 15 places last week following their performance at Glastonbury.

The rapper's highest charting album to date is 2011's collaborative project with Kanye West, Watch The Throne, which peaked at number three.

This week, Jay-Z did a Twitter Q&A session in which he responded to dozens of questions about the album and his personal life from fans.

Blueprint III is Jay-Z's most successful solo release, peaking at number four in 2009.

In America, Magna Carta Holy Grail was released three days early to one million Samsung smartphone customers through an app in a deal worth $5 million (£3.3m).

The sales didn't count towards placement on America's Billboard Hot 200 album chart.

The rapper's 13-track album is comfortably outselling its nearest rival, Michael Bublé's To Be Loved at the week's halfway mark, putting Magna Carta Holy Grail on track to become Jay-Z's eighth top 40 album as a solo artist.

The album features guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Frank Ocean, Nas, Pharrell, Swizz Beatz, Rick Ross and Beyonce among others.

His success has also been carried into the Official Singles Chart with seven of his tracks making an appearance in the top 200 midweek chart.

Michael Buble is set to spend his second straight week at number two on the Official Albums Chart with To Be Loved, after being pipped at the post last week by Mumford & Sons, who now slide three places to number four.

Official Albums Chart update top five is as follows:

1. Magna Carta Holy Grail - Jay-Z

2. To Be Loved - Michael Buble

3. All The Little Lights - Passenger

4. Babel - Mumford & Sons

5. Long Way Down - Tom Odell

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