Our current cover stars Mick Flannery and Susan O'Neill have claimed the highest new entry on the Official Irish Albums Chart this week, with their acclaimed album In The Game debuting at No.2.

The collaborative album – which was awarded 9 stars in the current issue of Hot Press – has also racked up the most physical sales of the week.

In The Game is the first charting album for O’Neill, while it's Flannery’s sixth Top 3 effort. His live album Alive - Cork Opera House reached Number 3 last year, and he has previously scored three No.1s with Red To Blue (2012), By The Rule (2014), and Mick Flannery (2019).

"On In The Game, Flannery and O’Neill rely on emotionally immediate storytelling to chart the heady beginnings and visceral lows of two fictional musicians," Tanis Smither wrote in her review of the album. "They follow motifs that are frequently tapped by the folk community, but instead of veering into tropes, In The Game is refreshing and delightfully unpretentious. Whether on the seductive, bluesy ‘Trouble’ or the heartbreaking album closer ‘Ghost’ — a vocal standout from Flannery, who delivers a stunning falsetto — Flannery and O'Neill entirely avoid the formulaic. It helps that the narrative isn’t necessarily unspooled sequentially. It doesn’t need to be: love isn't a linear thing."

They were up against tough competition for the top spot from Drake – whose Certified Lover Boy spends a second week at No.1, as well as being the most streamed album of the week.

Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album, commonly referred to as 'The Black Album’ returns at No.6 following its 30th anniversary reissue.

Elsewhere on the chart, another acclaimed Cork singer-songwriter, John Blek, enters at No.36 with On Ether & Air.

On the Official Irish Singles Chart, meanwhile, Ed Sheeran has replaces himself at No.1 with 'Shivers' – on the same day that he's announced a major 2022 tour, include three Irish dates.

Pick up a copy of the current issue of Hot Press – featuring flip-cover stars Mick Flannery and Susan O'Neill – below: