Bob Dylan reached the top of the U.S. albums chart for the first time in 30 years, and only the fourth time in his career, according to sales data issued on Wednesday.

The rock poet's latest album, "Modern Times," sold 192,000 copies in the week ended September 3, his best sales week since tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan started using its point-of-sales data to collate the charts in 1991.

Dylan, 65, last reached No. 1 in 1976 with his album "Desire," which led the field for five weeks. At the time he was on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour and winning publicity for his protest tune "Hurricane." His other chart-toppers were the 1975 classic "Blood on the Tracks," and 1974's "Planet Waves."

Dylan has been on a creative and commercial roll since 1997, when he released "Time Out of Mind," a comical look at death. It opened at No. 10, selling 101,600 copies, and went on to win the Grammy for album of the year. His 2001 follow-up, "Love and Theft," opened at No. 5 with 133,760 copies.

Rolling Stone magazine said the three albums "stand alongside the accomplishments of his wild youth."

Dylan has recorded almost exclusively since 1961 for Columbia Records, a unit of Sony Corp.