Black Keys score Billboard No. 1, hold off Jackson and Parton

[May 22, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy-winning rockers the Black Keys debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 weekly album chart on Wednesday, coming in ahead of an album of original songs from late singer Michael Jackson and country music star Dolly Parton's latest album.

"Turn Blue," the eighth studio album from the Ohio duo, sold 164,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

"Xscape," a posthumous collection of eight unreleased tracks from Jackson, sold 157,000 copies, boosted by a high-profile performance featuring a singing and dancing Jackson as a hologram at Sunday's televised Billboard Awards.

Other new debuts in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 include country music group Rascal Flatts at No. 5 with "Rewind," Dolly Parton's "Blue Smoke" at No. 6 and singer-songwriter Tori Amos at No. 7 with "Unrepentant Geraldines." Christian music singer Michael W. Smith rounded out the top 10 with "Sovereign."

For the week ended May 18, overall album sales totaled 4.5 million, down 11 percent from the comparable week in 2013, Billboard said.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Lisa Shumaker)

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