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"x" is the 23-year-old's second album and sales have been helped
by the success of the single "Sing," which was produced by
Pharrell Williams and features the "Happy" singer as well.
The No. 2 album this week, "In the Lonely Hour" from fellow
British singer-songwriter Sam Smith, sold 67,000 copies.
The last time two British solo artists were No. 1 and 2 on the
U.S. album chart was in 1993, when albums by Eric Clapton and
Sting were in the top spots, Billboard said.
Rapper G-Eazy's "These Things Happen" sold 46,000 copies to
debut at No. 3 on the chart. Last week's top album, pop singer
Lana Del Rey's "Ultraviolence," fell to fourth, while the
soundtrack to the animated Disney film "Frozen" was fifth - its
28th consecutive week in the top five.
Two other new releases in the top 10 this week were rockers
Mastodon's "Once More 'Round the Sun" at No. 6 and veteran
jam-rock band Phish's "Fuego" at No. 7.
Sam Smith's song "Stay with Me" topped the digital songs chart
with 211,000 downloads, beating out last week's top song "Rude"
from Canadian reggae fusion band Magic! by 1,000 downloads.
Total album sales for the week ended June 29 were 4.3 million, a
14 percent decline compared with the same week last year,
Billboard said. Overall year-to-date album sales are 120.9
million, a 15 percent decrease from the same period last year.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mary Milliken and Lisa
Shumaker)
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Ed
Sheeran scores first No. 1 album on U.S. Billboard chart
