NEW YORK • Former Beatle Paul McCartney is back on the top of the charts, earning his first solo No. 1 album in the United States in 36 years on Sunday.

Egypt Station - a confident 16-track album in which McCartney experiments with a younger rock feel in addition to his classic Beatles sound - marked the first time that he has ever debuted as a solo artist on top of the benchmark US Billboard chart.

The English legend - who, at 76, retains a hectic touring schedule - spared no promotional effort for the album, appearing on US late-night shows and live streaming an invite-only concert in New York's Grand Central Station.

Surprisingly, McCartney did not replicate the feat in his native Britain, where Egypt Station debuted at No. 3, with veteran US rapper Eminem's surprise album Kamikaze reigning for a second week.

Egypt Station sold the equivalent of 153,000 copies in US in the week since its release on Sept 7, tracking service Nielsen Music said.

Unusually for a chart-topping album in recent years, virtually all sales were traditional purchases rather than through streaming or individually downloaded tracks.

McCartney, who last topped the chart as a solo artist in 1982 with Tug Of War, achieved the second largest gap between No. 1 albums for any artist.

Johnny Cash holds the record with a break that was seven months longer than McCartney's when the country great posthumously hit No. 1 in 2006.

Since Tug Of War, McCartney has also reached No. 1 four times in US with Beatles anthologies.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE