Lady Gaga's Artpop topples Eminem to take number one album

The US pop star has achieved her third number one album in the UK

The cover of Lady Gaga's latest album, ARTPOP

Lady Gaga has toppled US rapper Eminem to take the top spot in the UK Official Albums Chart.

The flamboyant pop star's Artpop pushed The Marshall Mathers LP 2 into second place to take her third consecutive number one album.

But despite stealing the crown from Eminem, Gaga has not enjoyed the 1.1 million first-week sales of her last record Born This Way.

ARTPOP is expected to sell closer to 250,000 copies in its opening week of release in the US.

Celine Dion's eleventh English language album Loved Me Back To Life debuted in third place in this week's chart, while Little Mix's Salute entered in fourth place with The Killers' best-of collection Direct Hits at number six.

Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard entered the top ten together for the first time since 1977 with The Nation's Favourite Elvis Songs and The Fabulous Rock'n'Roll' Songbook, taking fifth and seventh place respectively.

Dutch DJ Martin Garrix became the second youngest person to top the singles chart this year with "Animals". The 17-year-old saw off competition from Robbie Williams and Lily Allen.

Allen's cover of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know", the soundtrack to John Lewis' Christmas advert, shifted 12,000 fewer copies than Garrix's dance track. Her original single "Hard Out Here" is racing for the top spot next week after its release for download on Sunday.

The video for "Hard Out Here" has attracted accusations of racism for its use of twerking black backing dancers. Allen hit back against criticism last week, claiming that the "objectification of women within modern pop culture" was her only intended message.

Next weekend's chart-topping artist will claim the historic musical landmark of the 1000th number one in the UK's Official Albums Chart, with Robbie Williams' Swing Both Ways, JLS' Goodbye and Jake Bugg's Shangri-La competing for the title.

Frank Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers was the very first number one album to chart in July 1956.

The Beatles have since achieved the most hit records, with 15 number one albums spending a total of 174 weeks at the top of the chart.