THE latest figures show that there are only a few thousand copies between Jake Bugg's self-titled debut album and Glassheart by Leona Lewis.
But Jake is in the lead, after hitting the No. 1 spot in the midweek album charts.
And if the 18-year-old beats the superstar to claim the top of the album chart tomorrow, it will be a first for the city.
"It feels great," says Jake. "Whether it will still be No. 1 when the chart comes out I don't know but it would be amazing. Especially with my debut album. I didn't imagine that it would get in the top ten, never mind No. 1."
The Official UK Charts Company will announce the results for the Top 40 albums on Sunday evening, as Radio 1 runs down the Top 40 singles.
As well as support on Twitter from the likes of rapper Example and chart-topper Ed Sheeran, family and friends have been buying the album – even his own mum.
"I am so proud of what Jake has achieved so far," says mum Leeysa Kennedy, 40, a sales account manager for an IT company.
"From an early age, Jake demonstrated an amazing talent where music is concerned."
Says Jake, who went to Fairham Community College and Farnborough Technology College: "My mates have gone out and bought it as well. It's great that my home town is getting behind it."
His four best friends have had a taste of the limelight, appearing in the video for his latest single Two Fingers.
The song includes the line: 'I go back to Clifton to see my old friends, the best people I could ever have met.'
Says Jake: "I went to school with Jas and Cameron, and Billy and Grant are my cousins. They're in my Trouble Town video as well."
Two Fingers also features Wollaton actress Vicky McClure, famous for her award-winning role in the This is England TV series.
"She's lovely," says Jake. "I had to do a bit of acting in it. We had to improvise. She's such a great actor and she really helped me with that."
It was in 2010 that Jake appeared on the Post's online video show, This Is Live, as an unknown.
"It's incredible that I did that only two years ago," he says.
It was his manager, Jay Hart, who saw the video, got in touch and began working with him.
Jake signed to major label Mercury Records last year.
He has since been played on Radio 1, appeared on Later with Jools Holland and supported the Stones Roses at a secret gig in London.
On Monday he will fly to the US for a tour with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Snow Patrol.
"It's what I've always wanted to do," says Jake. "So if it means I'm really busy and getting a lot of attention, well that's the way it goes."
Jake, who says he has heard of Seventies band Paper Lace, one of the city's few chart successes, came home last weekend.
"It was nice to have a break but when the album came out on Monday the work started again. I won't be back in Nottingham until my gig at the Rescue Rooms in November."
That's already sold out so he'll return on February 15 to play Rock City. "A couple of years ago I played in the basement at Rock City supporting a country band and no-one was there. So headlining on the main stage is a big thing."
Potentially becoming Nottingham's biggest music star at the age of 18 doesn't faze Jake.
"I don't really know anything else to be honest. I enjoy meeting celebrities and the parties but what I enjoy most is writing songs."
Post reviewer Mike Atkinson, who last year had a feature on Nottingham's emerging music scene published in The Guardian, says: "This time a year ago, Jake was playing a late-night residency at the Glee club. It's been an extraordinary ascent."
And Mark Del, who runs the city-based music promotion organisation Nusic, adds: "It's an amazing achievement for Jake and incredibly exciting for Nottingham."
