NEW YORK: The new album from Norah Jones, daughter of Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, has shot to the top of the US charts, selling more than a million copies in its first week.

‘Feels Like Home’ is the first album to break through the one-million barrier in its debut week since N’Sync’s ‘Celebrity’ in 2001.

The album is her follow-up to her enormously successful 2002 debut album ‘Come Away With Me’ — a collection of old and new torch songs sung in a sultry jazz-pop vocal style that sold 17 million copies worldwide and garnered eight Grammy awards.

According to her recording label, EMI, the new album charted at number one in 16 countries. “This is the kind of achievement that one can only expect from a truly original, extraordinary artist like Norah,” said Bruce Lundvall, head of EMI’s Blue Note label.

“It’s not very often that an artist can span so many genres and enjoy such broad appeal. But that’s what happens when the music is this good.”

Ironically, Jones, 24, thought she was avoiding instant fame and megabucks when she first signed with Blue Note.

The Texas-raised New Yorker was so stunned by the success of ‘Come Away With Me’ that she reportedly approached Lundvall and requested stop promoting the album lest it was overplayed. — AFP