Rex Orange County is heading towards his first UK Number One album this week with new record ‘Who Cares?’.

Alex O’Connor’s fourth album was released last Friday (March 11) and currently sits at the top of the midweek charts, ahead of new releases from Ghost, Bryan Adams and Franz Ferdinand.

Elsewhere in the Top 40, BODEGA are at 28 with second album ‘Broken Equipment’, while Sam Fender‘s chaotic performance on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway at the weekend (March 12) sees his hit ‘Seventeen Going Under’ rising 14 places to #22 in the midweek Singles Chart.

See a full breakdown of the midweek charts below.

Who Cares? Loads of people, evidently…

Rex Orange County (@rexorangecounty) is on course for his first UK Number 1 album this week ??

See this week's Official Albums Chart update: https://t.co/wn54e8zDy6 pic.twitter.com/bVjO0GIZoH

— Official Charts (@officialcharts) March 14, 2022

Rex Orange County appears on the cover of NME for our latest Big Read this week, and O’Connor told us about working with Tyler, The Creator, and how it was transformative for his career.

Discussing his experience providing vocals for Tyler’s 2017 album, ‘Flower Boy’, Rex said it opened his eyes to “a different world” he “couldn’t possibly understand from a bedroom in the countryside in the UK.”

He added: “I remember that The Game rolled up to the studio in a Red Rolls Royce! It just felt like a different world.”

‘Who Cares?’ was released on Friday (March 11) and features Tyler on the track ‘Open A Window’. In a four-star review of the album, NME called it “a gorgeously measured step forward” for O’Connor adding that “there is something to be said for an artist that is this consistent, and this committed to uplifting his listeners.”

Rex Orange County will kick off a North American tour in May before returning to the UK and Ireland for five headline shows. Tickets can be purchased for the dates here.