Nearly half a century after his debut, folk rocker James Taylor finally has a No 1 album on the US chart.

The 67-year-old singer-songwriter's new album, Before This World, opened at No 1 on the Billboard chart, selling 98,000 copies or the equivalent in downloads and streaming, according to the Nielsen Music tracking service.

Taylor's first, self-titled album came out in 1968, and he has since had 11 albums enter the top 10, but never hit the top spot.