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Country singer Bryan keeps top spot on Billboard album chart

Singer Luke Bryan performs on NBC's 'Today' show in New York, August 16, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) – Country singer Luke Bryan topped the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday for the second consecutive week, denying singer-songwriter John Mayer’s latest album the No. 1 spot in its first week.

Singer Luke Bryan performs on NBC’s ‘Today’ show in New York, August 16, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Bryan’s “Crash My Party” sold 159,000 copies in the past week after tallying 527,000 in sales the prior week, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

Mayer’s sixth studio album, “Paradise Valley,” sold 144,000 in its first week on the chart. Four of Mayer’s six albums have topped the weekly U.S. album chart.

Half of the albums to reach Billboard’s top 10 did so in their first week of sales, including three debut studio albums.

R&B super-group TGT, composed of singers Tyrese, Ginuwine, and Tank, landed at No. 3, selling 76,000 copies of their debut album, “Three Kings,” in its first week.

Teenage rapper Earl Sweatshirt’s first album, “Doris,” sold 49,000 copies, which was good enough for No. 5, while A$AP Ferg’s debut album, “Trap Lord,” entered the chart at No. 9 with 39,000 copies sold.

Veteran singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett’s 27th studio album, “Songs from St. Somewhere,” sold 55,000 copies in its opening week, reaching No. 4.

Pop singer Katy Perry still holds the top spot on the digital songs chart as her new single “Roar” sold 392,000 copies last week, a week-over-week decline of 30 percent.

Year-to-date album sales are down 6 percent to 181 million, while year-to-date digital song downloads are off 3 percent to 865.4 million.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Cooney)

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