Justin Bieber becomes youngest artist with five No. 1 albums

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Canadian pop star Justin Bieber became the youngest artist to land five chart-topping albums in the United States on Wednesday when his latest record, "Believe Acoustic," debuted atop the Billboard 200 album chart.

"Believe Acoustic," which features stripped down versions of Bieber's songs from his fourth No. 1 album, "Believe," released last June, as well as three new songs, sold 211,000 copies in its first week according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

The album also topped iTunes downloads charts in 63 countries, and became a hot topic on social media platforms as the singer's 34 million-strong followers on Twitter raced to purchase the record as soon as it was released.

Bieber was previously tied with former Disney star Miley Cyrus with four chart-topping albums before turning 19, and he is only one of nine artists in Billboard history to have a No. 1 album for four consecutive years.

Bieber's 19th birthday is March 1.

The singer, who failed to pick up a Grammy nomination this year despite having a top-selling album and sold-out world tour in 2012, will be hosting and performing on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" this week, the night before the Grammy awards.

Four new albums debuted in the top five of the Billboard 200 chart this week, led by "Believe Acoustic."

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli's 14th studio album, "Passione," landed at No. 2 with sales of 93,000, while Canadian sister duo Tegan & Sara notched No. 3 with their seventh studio album, "Heartthrob," selling 49,000 copies.

R&B singer Charlie Wilson came in at No. 4 with his latest record, "Love, Charlie," selling 44,000 copies in its first week.

Singer Beyonce saw a boost in sales following her widely praised performance at the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, which was watched by more than 108 million people.

For the week ending Sunday, February 2, digital sales of Beyonce's songs "Halo," "Crazy In Love" and "Single Ladies" saw the biggest bumps. There were 19,000 digital copies of "Halo" sold, a 338 percent increase from the previous week.

The new Destiny's Child compilation album, "Love Songs," didn't see as big a bump, selling under 6,000 copies last week.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)