Ed Sheeran on track for biggest-selling album of the year as Divide smashes mid-week records

Ed Sheeran’s Divide looks set to become the biggest-selling album of the year as it gears up to take this week’s number one spot.

The singer-songwriter’s eagerly-awaited new record, which was released last Friday, is currently storming ahead in the midweek charts, having outsold the UK Top 200 twice over.

Divide sold an impressive 232,000 copies in the UK in its first day alone and now sits at 432,000 sales after just three days.

Sheeran has also broken streaming records with his new release, racking up more than 56 million streams in the first 24 hours of its release on Spotify.

This was almost double the record set by The Weeknd’s Starboy, which clocked up 29 million streams.

Ben Cook, President of Atlantic Records UK, said: "Ed is an artist that inspires a generation, and the release of ÷ is a global event. It's great to see so many people across the world respond to this brilliant new work in such an unprecedented manner.

"As the way we release music changes, Ed continues to shape culture and how it evolves. It's early days, but we're really excited to see what we can achieve alongside Ed and his management on what is an outstanding landmark record."

Sheeran is rumoured to be headlining this year’s Glastonbury Festival, after the reported line-up was leaked on Monday.

While organiser Emily Eavis has now dubbed it ‘fake news’, Sheeran is still bookies’ favourite to take the third slot.