Justin Bieber, Maroon 5 Top U.K. Charts

Justin Bieber landed his first U.K. No. 1 album Sunday (June 24) as "Believe" outsold Cheryl Cole's new release "A Million Lights" by some 3,000 units. Maroon 5, meanwhile, topped the market's singles chart for the first time as "Payphone," featuring Wiz Khalifa, debuted in pole position.

Bieber sold 38,000 copies of "Believe," according to the Official Charts Company, to outdo the No. 3 peak of 2010's "My World." The new set prevented Cole from having a third straight album chart-topper to follow her 2009 debut "3 Words" and the 2010 follow-up "Messy Little Raindrops." That opening release sold 125,000 units out of the box and the follow-up 105,000, but the new one only just under 35,000. "Call My Name," the first single from "A Million Lights," dropped a place from its No. 1 debut last week on 70,000 new sales.

In a good week for British pop artist Paloma Faith, her "Fall To Grace" album improved 5-3 on 15,000 sales, while its single "Picking Up The Pieces," which debuted at No. 7 four weeks ago, bounced back 14-10. Emeli Sand's former No. 1 "Our Version of Events" moved 6-4, but Amy Macdonald's "Life In A Beautiful Light" fell three places after debuting at No. 2 last week. After three weeks at No. 1, Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band's "Sing" dropped to No. 6.

There were four new entries in the 11-20 section of the album chart, with Carrie Underwood's "Blown Away" responding to her high-profile U.K. visit, and! Sony's aggressive marketing campaign, with a No. 11 debut. The U.S. superstar had never previously appeared on either the U.K. singles or album chart, but made a host of radio and TV promo appearances, played to the British media at London's Arts Club last Tuesday (June 19) and headlined her first official U.K. live show at the Royal Albert Hall two days later. The set included a cover of Coldplay's "Fix You."

Billboard Cover Stories: Justin Bieber / Carrie Underwood

"Apocalyptic Love" by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy entered at No. 12, Sheffield-based indie rock band Reverend & the Makers' "At Reverend Makers" at No. 16 and Smashing Pumpkins' "Oceania" at No. 19. Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Watch the Throne" jumped nine spots, 29-20, to round out the top 20 this week.

After being deposed for a week, "Now That's What I Call Music 81" climbed back 2-1 for its 11th week at No. 1 on the compilations chart.

Maroon 5 finally lose the tag of being one of the unluckiest acts never to have a U.K. No. 1 single, having sat at No. 2 for seven weeks last autumn with the 1.2 million-selling "Moves Like Jagger," featuring Christina Aguilera, and two in 2007 with "Makes Me Wonder." The new hit "Payphone" had been beaten into the chart, at last week's No. 9, by British band Precision Tunes' "tribute" version. That dropped like a stone, to No. 83, on the new survey as Maroon 5's original sold 141,000 copies last week, the third-highest opening tally of 2012. Their new album "Overexposed" is released in the U.K. today (Monday). "Jagger" climbed back 65-54 in the new data.

The other big winners on the singles rundown were London-based R&B-pop girl trio Stooshe, who arrived at No. 4 with "Black Heart." It's the follow-up to their No. 5 debut hit featuring Travie McC! oy, "Bla ck Heart."