"Blown Away" sold 267,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, coming only second to Madonna's "MDNA" earlier this year, which sold 358,000 copies in its initial week of release. This is Underwood's third album to debut at No. 1 on the chart.

The death of Beastie Boys' Yauch last week led to a rise in sales of the band's catalog of albums, as their 1986 record "Licensed To Ill" re-entered the Billboard 200 at No. 18 with 19,000 copies sold.

Six other Beastie Boys albums also re-entered the Billboard 200 chart, with collective sales of 55,000 in the two days following Yauch's death last Friday. Online music streaming site Spotify said it saw a 1700 percent increase in people listening to Beastie Boys songs between May 3 and 4.

Grammy-winning blues singer Norah Jones' fifth studio album, "Little Broken Hearts," entered the Billboard 200 at No. 2 after selling 110,000 copies, while the new "Now 42" music compilation of current hits including those by Kelly Clarkson, Chris Brown and Gotye, entered the chart at No. 3 with sales of 95,000.

Rapper B.o.B.'s second album, "Strange Clouds," debuted at No. 5 with sales of 76,000, leaving Adele's Grammy-winning "21" at No. 4, the only non-new entry in the top five this week.

Two more new albums entered the top 10, with the soundtrack from hit TV musical "Smash" at No. 9 and gothic rocker Marilyn Manson's tenth studio album "Born Villain" debuted at No. 10. Last week's chart-topper, Jack White's "Blunderbuss," fell to No. 7 this week.

Gotye continues to lead an unchanged top five on Billboard's Digital Songs chart with "Somebody That I Used To Know" featuring Kimbra. Maroon 5's "Payphone" featuring Wiz Khalifa, Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," Fun.'s "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monae, and Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" fill the No. 2 to No. 5 positions respectively.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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