Lin-Manuel Miranda's Puerto Rico relief song tops Billboard chart

[October 17, 2017]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Hamilton" creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's star-studded charity song to fund relief efforts in Puerto Rico topped the Billboard digital singles chart on Monday, while Christian music rapper NF topped the Billboard 200 album chart.

Miranda's "Almost Like Praying" debuted at No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart, which measures online single sales, with 111,000 copies sold, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

All proceeds from sales and streaming of the single, which includes vocals from Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Estefan, will go toward relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria killed at least 43 people last month and left most of the island without power or access to clean running water.

On the Billboard 200 chart, "Perception," the latest album from NF, sold 55,000 album units comprising album and song sales and streaming activity.

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

Rocker Tom Petty's "Greatest Hits" album with his band The Heartbreakers held steady at No. 2 with 47,000 copies sold two weeks after the “American Girl” singer died at age 66.

Other new entries on the Billboard 200 chart this week include rapper Lil Pump's self-titled album at No. 3 and rocker Marilyn Manson's "Heaven Upside Down" at No. 8.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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