Taylor Swift spends third week atop Billboard 200

Country-pop star Taylor Swift kept her top spot on the Billboard 200 album chart for a third week, holding back new entries from Ne-Yo and Aerosmith.

Swift's fourth album Red sold 196,000 copies last week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. It will face strong competition next week with new releases from One Direction and Christina Aguilera.

Swift was not the only artist painting the album chart red, as R&B star Ne-Yo landed at No. 4 with his fifth studio record R.E.D ('Realizing Every Dream'), which sold 65,000 copies in its first week.

Other debuts on the album chart included the last installment of the "Now Music" franchise, called "Now 44," which came in second in the chart. It features hit singles including Maroon 5's "One More Night" and Korean rapper Psy's dance song "Gangnam Style" and had sales of 98,000 copies.

Rod Stewart's holiday album Merry Christmas Baby held steady at No. 3 this week, with sales of 73,000 copies.

Aerosmith rounded out the top 5 on the album chart with their 15th studio album, Music From Another Dimension, which had sales of 63,000. It marks the band's comeback after lead singer Steven Tyler's stint as a judge on American Idol. The band is on the road on the "Global Warming Tour" supporting the new release.

On the Hot 100 singles chart on Wednesday, Maroon 5's "One More Night" tied with Carly Rae Jepson's "Call Me Maybe" for the year's longest run at No. 1, after notching a ninth week at the top.

Reuters