It took half a century but James Taylor is finally an album chart-topper after his new record, Before This World, went straight in to the US Billboard 200 at No 1.

The five-times Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter leapfrogged Taylor Swift and beat new releases by pop singers Adam Lambert and Hilary Duff to score the first No 1 album of his career, more than four decades after the release of his self-titled debut album in 1968.



Before This World, Taylor’s first studio release of new songs in 13 years, sold 96,000 albums, 9,000 songs and was streamed 411,000 times, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures. Drones, by Muse, dropped from No 1 to 19 in its second week on the chart.

After 45-year wait, James Taylor has earned his first No. 1 album on the #Billboard200 chart: http://t.co/7B6NTDh82K pic.twitter.com/QgAflxdx07 — billboard (@billboard) June 24, 2015

Although this is the first time Taylor has topped the US album chart, he did score a number one single in 1971 with his cover of You’ve Got a Friend, by his one-time partner, Carole King. In a Reddit Q&A on Wednesday, Taylor called their friendship “the most gratifying connection in my musical life”.

Taylor, 67, also spoke about battling his drug and alcohol addictions. “Recovery is a huge part of my life,” he responded to a reader question. “And it never ends. By that I mean that you’re never totally cured. And you have to practise recovery, and keep it green.”

Taylor Swift’s album, 1989, holds steady at No 2 on the Billboard 200 chart in the week the pop singer wrote an open letter to Apple, calling its policy of not paying artists during a three-month free trial of its new streaming platform “shocking”. Apple bowed to her pressure and reversed its policy, saying “We hear your Taylor Swift”.

Asked about Swift’s letter on Reddit, Taylor said: “Hats off to her.

“As a professional musician and songwriter, I’m really grateful to Taylor Swift for making a stand. I think that, generally speaking, if anyone is making money off of an artist’s music, then the artist should participate, and their share should be the lion’s share. It’s reassuring to see someone like Taylor Swift step up to the plate.”