Diamond shines in UK album chart

Neil Diamond will play stadium dates in Glasgow and Cardiff next month

Veteran singer Neil Diamond has topped the UK album chart for the first time with new release Home Before Dark.

The 67-year-old, whose debut album was released in 1966, becomes the artist who has taken the longest to top the album chart with an original work.

The New York-based singer is enjoying a career resurgence, with Home Before Dark also topping the US chart.

In the singles countdown, Ting Tings made their chart debut at number one with That's Not My Name.

The Manchester duo, who came third in the BBC's Sound of 2008 poll in January, displaced Madonna's 4 Minutes from the top of the chart.

UK TOP FIVE ALBUMS 1. Neil Diamond - Home Before Dark 2. Pendulum - In Silico 3. Scooter - Jumping All Over The World 4. Duffy - Rockferry 5. Madonna - Hard Candy Source: Official UK Charts Company

The band - Katie White and Jules De Martino - are currently playing touring the UK to support the release of their new album, We Started Nothing.

They are also due to play festival dates at Glastonbury, T in the Park, Reading and Leeds.

The singles chart also saw a new entry from Rihanna, whose Take A Bow came in at number two.

Neil Diamond has only ever topped the album chart once before, with a greatest hits compilation in 1992. But this is his first album of new material to head the chart.

Ting Tings play UK dates until 25 May, before a US tour next month

Best known for early 1970s hits such as Forever In Blue Jeans and Sweet Caroline and, he has notched up 125 million record sales around the world.

He starts a European tour in Rotterdam on 24 May, playing dates in the UK and Ireland during June.

Drum and bass-influenced rockers Pendulum entered the album chart at number two with In Silico, while last week's number one album - German techno act Scooter's Jumping All Over The World - fell to number three.

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