NEW YORK • The album Blonde by Frank Ocean opened at No. 1 on the United States chart on Sunday, in one of the year's biggest debuts, after the artist thumbed his nose at his label.

It sold 276,000 copies or the equivalent in downloads and streaming in the week through last Thursday, tracking service Nielsen Music said. The figure was the third highest for an album in its first week this year, although it was significantly below Drake's Views and Beyonce's Lemonade.

Ocean had an exclusive arrangement with technology giant Apple which made Blonde available only on its Apple Music streaming service or for purchase on iTunes.

But he self-released the album on his own label, which he called Boys Don't Cry, despite a contract with Def Jam, a unit of Universal.