LONDON (Reuters) - R&B singer and rapper Chris Brown scored his first British number one album on Sunday as his new release "Fortune" span to the top of the charts in its first week on sale, the Official Charts Company said.

Fans of the 23-year-old U.S. artist ignored poor critical reviews and snapped up his fifth studio album, pushing to number three last week's top seller, "Living Things" from American rock band Linkin Park.

U.S. pop group Maroon 5 held on to second place with their album "Overexposed", and returned to number one in the singles charts with "Payphone", featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa.

Veteran singer-songwriter Paul Simon was the week's highest climber in the album rankings, rising 39 places to number six with a reissue of his 1986 recording "Graceland".

Elsewhere in the singles charts Brown climbed one notch to second place with "Don't Wake Me Up", while last week's number one, from American rapper will.i.am's "This Is Love", slid to third place.

(Reporting by Tim Castle)