Usher sitting pretty in charts with "Here I Stand"

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - American R&B singer and actor Usher is sitting pretty at the top of the album charts after going straight in at number one with "Here I Stand", the Official UK Charts Company said.

The Tennessee-born performer, who began singing in his local church choir as a child, kept Welsh singer Aimee Anne Duffy, known as Duffy, off the top spot.

She moved up one place from three to number two with "Rockferry", while Neil Diamond fell one place to number three with "Home Before Dark".

Last week's number one, British indie-pop band Ting Tings dropped to four with "We Started Nothing".

Another new entrant in the top 10 was the Pigeon Detectives with their album "Emergency" which went in at number five.

The group of Cistercian monks of the Stift Heiligenkreuz monastery in Austria moved up two places to seven with their debut album "Chant -- Music for Paradise".

In the singles chart, Rihanna held onto number one spot with "Take a Bow", while the Ting Tings remained at number two with "That's Not My Name".

(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Steve Addison and Paul Casciato)