London - R&B singer and rapper Chris Brown scored his first British number one album on Sunday as his new release Fortune rocketed to the top of the charts in its first week on sale, the Official Charts Company said.
Fans of the 23-year-old US artist ignored poor critical reviews and snapped up his fifth studio album, pushing to number three last week's top seller, Living Things from the American rock band Linkin Park.
US pop group Maroon 5 held on to second place with their album Overexposed, and returned to number one in the singles charts with Payphone, featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa.
Veteran singer-songwriter Paul Simon was the week's highest climber in the album rankings, rising 39 places to number six with a re-issue of his 1986 recording Graceland.
Elsewhere in the singles charts, Brown climbed one notch to second place with Don't Wake Me Up, while last week's number one, from American rapper will.i.am's This Is Love, slid to third place. - Reuters