NEW YORK (AFP) - Rocker Tom Petty returned Sunday (Oct 8) near the top of the US album sales chart after his sudden death at age 66.

Petty's 1993 Greatest Hits compilation was in second place on the Billboard chart for the week through Thursday, with sales jumping 2,231 per cent from a week earlier, tracking service Nielsen Music said.

But he still came below Canadian country star Shania Twain whose first album in 15 years, Now, debuted at number one.

Twain, who was the one of the most successful artists of the 1990s, wrote an album with themes of personal restoration after a rough spell that included a high-profile divorce and struggles with her voice.

She far outpaced one of the other prominent releases of the week - Younger Now by Miley Cyrus, a return to country roots by the singer who has become better known for her provocative stage persona.

Petty - an often dark, Southern-influenced rocker whose hits included I Won't Back Down, American Girl and Free Fallin'- died of a cardiac arrest on October 2, a week after he completed a tour for the 40th anniversary of his band The Heartbreakers.