Ariana Grande’s Debut Tops Album Chart

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande, the 20-year-old actress and singer who has been a star on the Nickelodeon shows “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat” and performed on Broadway, has arrived in the music world with a splash.

Her debut album, “Yours Truly” (Republic), opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s chart this week with 138,000 copies sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Ms. Grande is the first female artist in more than three years to reach No. 1 with a debut release, Billboard reported. The last to do so was Kesha with “Animal” in January 2010.

A string of new albums reached high on the chart, signifying the arrival of the fall market, when the music industry traditionally pushes out its highest-priority releases.

Tamar Braxton, a younger sister of Toni Braxton, opened at No. 2 with 114,000 sales of “Love & War” (Streamline/Epic); Nine Inch Nails’ “Hesitation Marks” (Columbia) bowed at No. 3 with 107,000 copies sold; and John Legend is in fourth place with 68,000 sales of “Love in the Future” (GOOD/Columbia), slightly more than Luke Bryan’s “Crash My Party” (Capitol Nashville), which has been in the upper rungs of the chart for a month and this week lands at No. 5.

Last week’s No. 1 album, “Hail to the King” (Warner Brothers) by Avenged Sevenfold, fell seven spots to No. 8 with 42,000 sales, a 74 percent decline. Big releases planned for the rest of the year include new albums by Lady Gaga, Eminem, Katy Perry, Celine Dion and Pearl Jam.