As forecast last week, Lady Gaga debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her new set, "ARTPOP." It sold 258,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.



It's the second No. 1 set for Gaga, who also debuted at No. 1 with her last album, 2011's "Born This Way." That set bowed with 1.1 million sold in its first week (a number amplified by a temporary 99 cent sale deal by Amazon MP3). "ARTPOP" is also the fifth top 10 for Gaga, following "The Fame" (No. 2), "The Fame Monster" (No. 5), "The Remix" (No. 6) and "Born This Way."



The arrival of "ARTPOP" is the third-largest sales week for a woman in 2013. It follows Katy Perry's "PRISM" (286,000 in its No. 1 debut) and Miley Cyrus' "Bangerz" (270,000 in its No. 1 bow).

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Those three women are the only female soloists to score debuts larger than 150,000 in 2013. After that, the next-highest bow by a woman belongs to Ariana Grande's "Yours Truly," which launched at No. 1 with 138,000 on the Sept. 21 chart.



"ARTPOP" also tops the Digital Albums chart, selling 146,000 downloads for the week. Fifty-seven percent of Gaga's first-week sales were digital downloads of the album, while the rest were physical CDs.



Included in the latter figure are a small number of "ARTPOP" albums sold via H&M clothing retailers: fewer than 1,000, according to sources. While H&M isn’t a traditional music retailer and hasn’t reported sales to SoundScan in the past, the chain did so this week. H&M follows other such nontraditional music sellers in recent years as Papa John's Pizza (Taylor Swift's "Red" album) and the U.S. Postal Service (Ray Charles' "Ray Charles Forever").

Listen to the Gaga-Tastic Pop Shop Podcast In this week's episode, Jason and Keith discuss all things Lady Gaga, including a first-week sales projection for the album. Listen above, or click here to download/subscribe in iTunes.

Last week's No. 1 album, Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP 2," falls to No. 2 with 210,000 (down 73%).



The new "Now 48" compilation starts at No. 3 with 114,000. All 48 of the regular (numbered) "Now" albums have reached the top 10, and all but the first debuted in the top 10. The last "Now" set, "Now 47," debuted at No. 2 with 82,000 sold in August.



"Now 48" tallies the largest debut for a "Now" album since February 2012, when "Now 41" launched at No. 3 with 142,000. "Now 48" is also the first "Now" set to sell more than 100,000 in a week since "Now 43" debuted with 111,000 in August 2012 at No. 1.



Presently, "Now 49" is scheduled for release on Feb. 4, 2014, while the milestone 50th album is due in May.



The Robertsons' "Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas" dips 3-4 in its third week with 66,000 (down 9%) while Perry's "PRISM" falls 4-5 with 46,000 (down 25%). Kelly Clarkson's Christmas album "Wrapped in Red" stays steady at No. 6 with 42,000 (down just 2%).



New at No. 7 is the Beatles' "On Air: Live at the BBC Volume 2," bowing with 37,000. The arrival brings the Fab Four's total number of top 10 albums to 31. Among all acts, the Rolling Stones have the most top 10s, with 36. They are followed by Frank Sinatra (33), Barbra Streisand (32), the Beatles and Elvis Presley (27).

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The Beatles last charted a new top 10 effort back in 2006 with the release of "Love," the companion album to the Cirque du Soleil stage production based on the band's music.



The new "On Air" album is a sequel to the first "Live at the BBC" album, which was released in 1994. It debuted and peaked at No. 3, selling 360,000 copies in its first week. The album returns to the chart this week, re-entering at No. 34 with 9,000 (up 505%).



One step behind the new Beatles album this week is R&B singer/songwriter Jhené Aiko with her debut EP, "Sail Out." It starts at No. 8 with 34,000. The 25-year-old has been featured on albums by the likes of Big Sean, Wale, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. She's also touring with the latter artist on his current arena trek,which continues through Dec. 16.



Coincidentally, Drake is right behind Aiko on the Billboard 200, as his "Nothing Was the Same" album descends 7-9 with 33,000 (down 11%). Lorde closes out the top 10 with "Pure Heroine," falling two rungs to No. 10 with 32,000 (down 7%).

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Over on the Digital Songs chart, Eminem's "The Monster," featuring Rihanna, returns to No. 1 with 243,000 downloads sold (up 62% after last week's sum was deflated due to iTunes' Complete My Album returns.). Last week's leader, A Great Big World's "Say Something," featuring Christina Aguilera, falls to No. 12 with 76,000 (down 60%).



OneRepublic's "Counting Stars" hits a new high in both sales and chart position, as it climbs 3-2 with 163,000 (up 7%). Lorde's "Royals" slips 2-3 with 158,000 (down 15%), and Pitbull's "Timber," featuring Ke$ha, jumps 8-4 with 144,000 (up 20%).



Imagine Dragons' "Demons" drives to a new peak, rising 10-5 with 129,000 (up 17%), Avicii's "Wake Me Up!" is steady at No. 6 with 119,000 (down 6%), and Perry's "Roar" falls 5-7 with 117,000 (down 14%).



Passenger's "Let Her Go" rises 9-8 with 113,000 (down 4%) while "The Voice" contestant Matthew Schuler debuts at No. 9 with his cover of "Hallelujah" (106,000). Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" closes out the top 10, dropping 7-10 with 105,000 (down 13%).



Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Nov. 17) totaled 5.4 million units, down 5% compared with the sum last week (5.7 million) and down 20% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (6.8 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 239.7 million, down 7% compared with the same total at this point last year (258.1 million).



Digital track sales this past week totaled 19.9 million downloads, down 4% compared with last week (20.6 million) and down 10% stacked next to the comparable week of 2012 (22 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 1.1 billion, down 4% compared with the same total at this point last year (1.2 billion).



Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2012 when: Rihanna nabbed her first No. 1 album with the debut of "Unapologetic" (238,000). The previous week's leader, One Direction's "Take Me Home," fell to No. 3 with 176,000 (down 67%).