"Life Is Good," the 10th studio album from the New York rapper, sold 149,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. Nas' last solo effort, 2008's "Untitled," also debuted on top of the album chart with 187,000 copies sold.

Country music collective Zac Brown Band dropped to No. 2 with "Uncaged" selling 78,000 copies in its second week of release. The latest album from the Kidz Bop franchise, "Kidz Bop 22," featuring child-friendly versions of pop hits such as The Wanted's "Glad You Came" and Nicki Minaj's "Starships," landed at No. 3 with 64,000.

The fourth debut in the top ten of the chart was the soundtrack for Christopher Nolan's final 'Batman' film, "The Dark Knight Rises," selling 33,000 copies in the week of its release and notching No. 8.

A surprise entry from Phil Collins landed at No. 6 as the veteran rocker's 1998 "...Hits" compilation returned to the chart with 40,000 copies sold, fueled by Amazon MP3 selling the set for 99 cents in a one day offer last week.

The retail website also sold Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange" for $2.99 all week, but according to Billboard chart rules, no album sold for below $3.49 in the first four weeks of release will count towards official album sales figures.

"Channel Orange" dropped to No. 4 this week with 54,000 copies, ahead of Justin Bieber's "Believe" at No. 5, selling 45,000, and One Direction's "Up All Night," which held No. 7 with 36,000 copies.

Rounding out the top ten this week was Adele's "21" at No. 9 and Maroon 5's "Overexposed" at No. 10.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Sofina Mirza-Reid)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency