The singer’s 25th studio album was released on Friday to coincide with his 69th birthday and had already taken an early lead.

On iTunes, 16 Bowie albums could be found in the top 40 on Apple’s download charts at the time of writing.

Blackstar has combined sales of more than 43,000, which puts Bowie 25,000 ahead of his closest competitor, Elvis Presley, and almost guarantees a number one when the charts are announced on Friday, according to the Official Charts Company.

On iTunes, 16 Bowie albums could be found in the top 40 on Apple’s download charts at the time of writing.

Blackstar was number one, whilst a compilation of his 1969-1974 work sat at number 2. The 39-track best-of retrospective Nothing Has Changed, released in 2014, was at number 3, with the Deluxe Edition at number 10.