Bruce Springsteen grabs top spot in Britain's album chart

[January 20, 2014]  LONDON (Reuters) — U.S. singer Bruce Springsteen snatched top spot in Britain's album chart on Sunday for the 10th time with "High Hopes", pushing British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding's "Halcyon" into second place, the Official Charts Company said.

"High Hopes" is a follow-up to his 2012 album "Wrecking Ball", which also debuted at number one, and sees Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello join the Boss's regular backing group, the E Street Band.

In the singles chart, U.S. singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams took top spot for a third week with "Happy", which has notched up more than half a million sales since its release in November.

The track, which features in the soundtrack to the animated film "Despicable Me 2", achieved sales of nearly 118,000 copies in the past week, the Official Charts Company said, its best weekly performance to date.

Elyar Fox, an 18-year-old Londoner, went straight into the chart at number five with "Do It All Over Again".

The song was the first Top 40 hit from a singer who has been dubbed Britain's answer to Justin Bieber, the Official Charts Company said.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; editing by Kevin Liffey)

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