George Michael is beating One Direction’s Niall Horan for number one album 25 years after first release
George Michael is set to shake up the chars 10 months after he passed away.
His 1992 album, Listen Without Prejudice, has been re-released on the back of a TV documentary focussed on the making of the album.
Now the album has shot up the charts – coming in at number one in the mid-week UK charts.
The album even looks likely to upset One Direction fans as he out-sells Niall Horan.
British singer George Michael performs on stage during his new European tour, “Symphonica” at the O2 Arena
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 has sold 25,000 more copies than Niall’s debut album, Flicker, according to Official Charts.
There are still three days remaining of the chart week for 1D fans to take the top spot back.
However it seems unlikely such a strong lead will change, with Shania Twain gaining her number one album by just a few hundreds sales earlier this year.
A campaign to make his festive classic Last Christmas number one is also gaining ground.
Bookmakers Betway have cut their odds from 11/4 to 4/6 in recent weeks.
William Hill are also offering 4/6 on either George Michael or Wham! topping the charts on 25 December.
Last Christmas was kept off the coveted spot on its first release in 1984 by Band Aid’s charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?
The song returned to the top 10 in the week after his sudden death.
Some of the late star’s posthumous songs could also chart.
Music legend Nile Rodgers has opened up about working with George Michael in the days before his death.
The producer, writer and guitarist had been working on the former Wham! singer’s comeback documentary Freedom: George Michael, as well as new music.
Speaking to Diffuser FM, Nile said: “On December 23rd [of 2016], I am at his house finishing up my work on the film and I leave to come back home on the 24th.
“Well, on Christmas Day we were supposed to speak and I get an alert on my phone that George Michael was found dead. It didn’t make any sense.
“It felt like one day to me that we hadn’t spoken and he was gone. It was shocking, it was alarming.
“After cancer I decided I wanted to chronicle my life better so I started taking more pictures on my cell phone.
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“There is a photograph I took when I was approaching George Michael’s house on the 23rd.
“Before we made the last turn to go down his street, there was a funeral procession coming out of his street.
“At the time, I didn’t make anything of it other than photographing this tradition of the English to have a horse pull the casket.
“In retrospect it is spooky. I keep thinking about it. All of this impacts me artistically.
“I have been working on music thinking about these people as I do.”
Since his death, dozens of people have opened up about the singer’s extraordinary generosity and anonymous philanthropy.
