Justin Bieber's album takes top spot

Los Angeles  - Canadian pop star Justin Bieber notched the year's biggest debut so far as his latest album, Believe sold 374 000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan on Tuesday.

Believe is set to secure the 18-year-old singer his fourth No 1 album on the Billboard 200 when the chart is officially published on Wednesday.

It follows 2009's My World  and 2011's Never Say Never: The Remixes  and his holiday set, Under The Mistletoe.

The new album knocked off last week's chart-topper Looking 4 Myself  by Bieber's mentor Usher.

Believe out-sold Madonna's MDNA which debuted with 359 000 copies earlier this year.

Embarked on a worldwide tour

But it was unable to top the year's best sales week for an album, which went to Adele's 21 selling 730 000 copies in the week following her six Grammy Award wins in February.

Bieber embarked on a worldwide tour and filmed his first TV special to promote Believe.

But a TV special about the singer - All Around The World - aired over two nights on NBC last week, did worse than expected and pulled in less than 3.5 million viewers each night.

The full Billboard 200 album chart will be released on Wednesday.