Neil Diamond is on course to topple Madonna's Hard Candy and claim his first ever number one album in America after recording spectacular first day sales of his new release Home Before Dark.

The crooner landed 30,000 sales on Tuesday to claim his best single sales day in his career.

Experts predict the sales will swell to 125,000 by next week's chart - and that should be enough to take him to the top of the countdown.

Over the course of Diamond's career, the "Sweet Caroline" singer has landed 45 albums on The Billboard 200, starting with 1966's The Feel of Neil Diamond.

His new album is produced by Rick Rubin and features his first duet since collaborating with Barbra Streisand in the late 1970s - a new track with Dixie Chicks star Natalie Maines.

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)