Arcade Fire knock Katy Perry off top spot on Billboard 200 - Reuters

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 6, 2013 2:56pm EST

Nov 6 (Reuters) - Canadian alternative rock group Arcade Fire scored its second No. 1 record by knocking pop singer Katy Perry off the top spot of the weekly Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday.

"Reflektor," the fourth studio album from Arcade Fire, sold 140,000 copies in its first week according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. Perry's "Prism," which debuted at No. 1 last week, dropped to No. 2 with second week sales of 92,000 units.

Two holiday albums made their debuts this week in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, which measures physical and digital album sales. "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson landed at No. 3 with her Christmas set "Wrapped in Red" while A&E's "Duck Dynasty" reality show stars the Robertson family came in at No. 4 with their novelty festive album "Duck The Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas."

Other debuts in the Billboard 200 top 10 albums include country singers Thomas Rhett with his self-titled record at No. 6 and Toby Keith at No. 7 with "Drinks After Work," and rockers Linkin Park at No. 10 with "Recharged."

After last week's dismal overall album sales, which clocked in at 4.5 million, the lowest since Billboard began tracking sales in 1991, overall album sales for the week ending Nov. 3 showed a 5 percent rise to 4.7 million.

The total is still down 14 percent from the comparable week in 2012, Billboard said.

On the Digital Songs chart, which measures song downloads, rapper Eminem shot to No. 1 with his new track "Monster" featuring R&B singer Rihanna, selling 373,000 copies. British boy band One Direction's latest song "Story of My Life" came in at No. 2, while New Zealand singer Lorde's "Royals" dropped two spots to No. 3.

Billboard said Eminem's latest album "The Marshall Mathers LP 2," released on Tuesday, is projected for opening week sales of 700,000 to 750,000, making it the year's second-biggest debut, behind Justin Timberlake's 968,000 first week sales of March's "The 20/20 Experience." (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Bill Trott)