Paul McCartney scores first number one album in United States in 36 years

The former Beatle is back on top of the charts after selling the equivalent of 153,000 copies of his 18th solo studio album Egypt Station, since its release on 7 September.

The all-genre chart ranks the most popular albums of the week.

Sir Paul marked his chart-topping success by tweeting a photo of himself with a framed copy of the album and thanked fans for their support.

He wrote: “Thanks to all our fabulous fans and the whole team behind this record for making it number one – yippee! Love Paul x #EgyptStation.”

Fans from across the world responded by congratulating the 76-year-old.

One wrote “So happy, you deserve this and more!!”, while another said “exactly what the world needs! A Beatle Back on Top!”

One tweeted: “Congrats Paul. Well deserved. I’ve been telling people for years you weren’t done yet and still had a few number 1’s left in you. Showed them.”

The last time the singer and songwriter topped the chart was for three consecutive weeks in 1982 with Tug of War.

It is the longest gap between number ones for a living artist in the history of the Billboard 200 chart.

The Beatles still hold the record for the most chart-topping albums with 19.

Sir Paul, who kicks off his Freshen Up world tour on Monday in Canada, has given a series of interviews recently reflecting on his musical career of more than 60 years.

Earlier this month, he described his experience of coming face to face with God, an entity he says looked like “a massive wall”, while taking drugs with friends.

He also revealed he once gave rapper Stormzy an impromptu music lesson, with the help of a piano. news.sky.com