What a Tragedy: Steps set to dethrone Ed Sheeran with new album Tears On The Dancefloor

It would be Steps' first UK number one album in 18 years.

It could be a triumphant comeback for pop group Steps who are on course to replace Ed Sheeran at number one. Steps, consisting of Claire Richards, Ian 'H' Watkins, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Lee Latchford-Evans, released their fifth studio album, Tears On The Dancefloor, on 21 April and are currently leading the midweek charts.

According to the Official Charts Company, the Tragedy hitmakers are ahead of Sheeran's third album Divide by 4,000 sales units. If the British pop outfit are able to maintain momentum until Friday (28 April), it means they will end Sheeran's epic seven-week reign atop the UK chart. Since its release in March, Sheeran's Divide has sold over one million copies in the UK alone and is the fastest-selling album by a male solo artist.

It would be Steps' first number one album in 18 years with their second album Steptacular topping the charts in 1999. Steptacular features the top five singles After The Love Has Gone, Better The Devil You Know and Deeper Shade Of Blue in addition to the chart-topping Tragedy.

Tears On The Dancefloor features the group's comeback single Scared Of The Dark, which is expected to jump two places up to number 35 on the chart update.

The 10-track record also features a cover of Story Of A Heart, originally recorded by Abba stars Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, as well as a reworked version of Lara Fabian's I Will Love Again.

Steps' comeback marks the 20th anniversary of their debut chart-topping single 5,6,7,8 while their first album, Step One, arrived the following year. Although their new sound is less bubblegum pop than their early material, the band hopes it will lift spirits in the midst of political tension around the world.

H previously said: "Everybody seems to be down, negative, depressed, have no money, can't do this and can't do that. With what's happened over in America now too, everyone's just like, 'Oh my God'. But this music comes along and all the fans are like, 'We need a breath of fresh air'. Hopefully we can bring that."