Photo by Neil Krug

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Lana Del Rey has earned her first No. 1 in the United States with Ultraviolence.

While the media was obsessed with the singer's "dead already" interview, the subsequent fallout and the fallout to the fallout, etc., it seems her fans were busy buying up her sophomore record.

As we previously reported, the album had already been projected to start on top this week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the set sold 182,000, enough to easily secure the singer the top spot. Her debut album, 2012's Born to Die, peaked at No. 2 with 77,000 copies.

Meanwhile, Sam Smith's debut record, In the Lonely Hour, gives him a very strong start at No. 2 with 166,000, the highest debut week sales for a British solo male artist.

Of course, an interesting element in this week's debuts is the newcomers' top rankings while hitmaker Jennifer Lopez's eighth studio album, A.K.A., struggled to gain momentum. Starting at No. 8, the LP sold 33,000 units, less than half the first-week sales of her last album, 2011's Love?, which started with 83,000, also her smallest debut to date.

By comparison, Del Rey's album outdid Lopez's with six times as many copies sold. And while this week wasn't a competition between the two singers, it's worth noting the stark difference in their campaigns: Lopez was everywhere (especially television), while Del Rey's last U.S. television was more than two years ago, on American Idol, which happens to be where judge Lopez enjoys a weekly television presence.