One Direction star Harry Styles is looking well placed to topple Ed Sheeran from his position at the top of the charts this week.

Ed’s Shape Of You has been number one on the singles chart for 13 weeks but Harry’s debut solo effort Sign Of The Times has taken over the number one spot at the mid-week stage, according to the Official Charts Company.

Ed remains at number two but with his song Galway Girl – last week’s second place finisher – while Shape Of You has slipped to fourth place.

Harry Styles
Harry Styles (Ian West/PA)

Harry’s track has shifted 30,000 copies across all formats since it was released on Friday, double the amount of his nearest rival, standing him in good stead to top the charts later this week.

Harry is the fourth member of One Direction to embark on a solo career and, if he does score a number one with his debut, he will be the second of the lot to do so after Zayn Malik topped the chart in 2016 with Pillowtalk.

Harry, 23, received much praise last week as he released Sign Of The Times, being compared to David Bowie by some, although there were others who described the track as “boring”.

Within hours, the song had shot straight to the top of the iTunes chart.

If he succeeds and takes over the charts, he will stop Ed from matching previous records set by the likes of Bryan Adams, Wet Wet Wet and Drake.

Bryan’s (Everything I Do) I Do It For You dominated the charts for 16 weeks in 1991, while Wet Wet Wet’s Love Is All Around (1994) and Drake’s One Dance (2016) both reigned supreme for 15 weeks.

Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran (Isabel Infantes/PA)

The rest of the Official Singles Chart at the halfway point sees Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s Symphony hold on to the number three spot, and The Chainsmokers’ Something Just Like This, featuring Coldplay, at number five.

Over on the Official Albums Chart, Ed does look set to hold on to the number one spot with his third album Divide.

Rag’N'Bone Man’s debut record Human is holding on tightly to the second spot.

This week’s highest new entry is The Chainsmokers’ Memories … Do Not Open, in at number three, while rock band Deep Purple’s Infinite is looking to debut on the chart at number four.

Take That’s Wonderland is in at number five at the mid-way point.