Jay-Z reigns Billboard chart, Linkin Park sales surge 461 percent

[July 25, 2017]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jay-Z ruled the Billboard 200 album chart for a second straight week with his confessional album "4:44," while California alt-rock band surged back into the Top 20 after the suicide last week of frontman Chester Bennington.

Jay-Z's "4:44," in which he admits and regrets cheating on his wife Beyonce, sold another 86,000 copies, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan on Monday.

Linkin Park's May release, "One More Light," soared 461 percent for the week to land in 17th place on the Billboard 200 chart with more than 22,000 copies sold. Bennington, 41, hanged himself in his southern California home on July 20 and the band canceled its North American tour.

The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).

Rapper Kendrick Lamar held onto the No. 2 spot with another 55,000 copies sold of "Damn." after 14 weeks on release, while Moroccan-American hip hop artist French Montana debuted at No. 3 with new release "Jungle Rules."

On the digital songs chart, which measures online single sales, Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi's summer blockbuster "Despacito" featuring Justin Bieber continued its reign at No. 1 with another 117,000 copies sold in the United States.

"Despacito" last week smashed global records as the most-streamed music track of all time with some 4.6 billion plays.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Richard Chang)

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