Paul McCartney’s latest studio album McCartney III has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, marking his first solo chart-topping record in 31 years.

The project achieved the biggest sales week for a rock album by a solo artist since McCartney’s last studio set, Egypt Station, entered the list over two years ago.

After a close battle with Taylor Swift’s evermore, The Beatles legend’s 18th solo studio album nabbed the Christmas top spot.

As the UK’s most successful albums artist of all time, McCartney’s new release is the third and final chapter in a trilogy of albums, starting with his chart-topping debut album McCartney in 1970 and followed by McCartney II in 1980.

“I just want to say Happy Christmas, Happy New Year, and a big thank you to everyone who helped get my record to Number 1 in the album charts,” McCartney commented following the news.

The musician also claimed the Christmas No. 1 album 20 years ago when The Beatles’ Greatest Hits 1 topped the Christmas charts in 2000.

"It could, like the other two (or three) 'solo' records, be a grower that reveals its charms only in the fullness of time, and I could be the guy quoted on Wikipedia in fifty-years, only to be laughed at as the dolt who didn’t quite get it," Pat Carty recently wrote of the latest McCartney work for Hot Press.

"The I-can-do-it-allness of this series of records is, of course, impressive and beyond the abilities of almost anyone else you might mention, but McCartney does his best work when there is someone pushing against him, and again, I’m not just talking about the sixties. This is an interesting record – I’d listen to McCartney singing the collected works of Westlife, possibly – with some great moments, but it’s not the masterpiece we might have hoped for, and the one I suspect he still has in him."

Read Pat Carty's full review of McCartney III for Hot Press here.

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