(Reuters) - Taylor Swift's "1989" topped the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart for the third consecutive week on Wednesday.
The most pop-oriented turn from the onetime country singer sold 312,000 copies last week, according to figures compiled by NielsenSoundscan. "1989" is the second album of the year, behind the soundtrack to Disney's animated film "Frozen," to spend at least three weeks atop the chart.
Swift's album has so far sold 2 million copies. It is the second-best selling album of 2014 after the "Frozen" soundtrack, which has sold 3.25 million copies.
The singer this week also became the first woman to replace herself atop Billboard's Hot 100 song chart as Swift's "Blank Space" bumped her song "Shake It Off" from No. 1, Billboard said.
Swift, 24, bested a slew of new releases on the album chart, including rock group Foo Fighters' "Sonic Highways," which was at No. 2 with 190,000 copies sold.
Rock band Pink Floyd's "Endless River" was third with 170,000 copies, while country singer Garth Brooks' first album in 13 years, "Man Against Machine," was fourth with 130,000 in sales.
At No. 5 was "Cadillactica," the latest album from U.S. rapper Big K.R.I.T., which sold 44,000 copies. Pop-rock singer Nick Jonas, formerly of teen rock band the Jonas Brothers, was No. 6 with 37,000 in sales.
Album sales for the week ending Nov. 16 were 5.4 million, flat compared with the same week last year, according to Billboard. Year-to-date album sales total 209.5 million, a 13 percent decline compared with the same period last year.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
