Sam Smith holds off Robert Plant to keep top UK music chart spot

[September 15, 2014]  LONDON (Reuters) - English singer-songwriter Sam Smith held onto the number one spot in Britain's album charts on Sunday, seeing off a strong challenge from Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, the Official Charts Company said.

Plant's new release, "Lullaby And The Ceaseless Roar", his 10th solo outing, rocketed to number two, making it the highest new entry. The Official Charts Company said it had topped the chart all week "until the eleventh hour" when it had been "pipped to the post."

For Smith, who won a prize at this year's BRIT awards, it meant a fourth non-consecutive week at number one for his album "In The Lonely Hour".

In the singles chart, Scottish DJ Calvin Harris grabbed the top spot with his new track "Blame" featuring John Newman. It was his fifth singles number one as a lead artist in Britain and his seventh in total.

Last week's chart topper, French-Israeli duo Lilly Wood and German producer Robin Schulz, fell to second place with "Prayer in C".

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

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