LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country singer Garth Brooks trampled several sales records as his new album "Sevens" opened at the top of the U.S. pop album charts with a staggering 896,932 copies sold, according to data issued Wednesday.

The total is the second-highest first-week sum since SoundScan started collating the charts with its point-of-sales monitoring system in May 1991.

The only album with a higher opening tally is Pearl Jam's 1993 "Vs." with 950,000 units sold in its first week in release. The previous No. 2 was Pearl Jam's 1994 "Vitalogy" with 877,000 copies sold.

Brooks' own previous first-week sales record was 520,000 for "The Hits," which opened in second place on the charts just before Christmas 1994. That compilation continues to hold the record for Brooks' best one-week tally overall, since it sold 907,000 units in its second week to grab the No. 1 spot.

"Sevens" also marks Brooks' first No. 1 album since 1993's "In Pieces," which debuted at the top of the charts with nearly 405,000 copies sold.

Altogether, he has scored four No. 1 albums, three of which opened in first place. His last release, "Fresh Horses," opened and peaked at No. 2 with first-week sales of 480,000 in November 1995.

The Los Angeles Times Tuesday quoted the head of Brooks' Nashville Capitol label, Pat Quigley, as saying "Sevens" could have sold as many as 2 million copies in its first week had it been released, as originally envisioned, on the same day as Brooks' Aug. 7 HBO-televised concert in New York's Central Park. Brooks delayed the release, though, because he was upset about turmoil in the executive ranks at the label's EMI Music parent.

Brooks did not have the limelight entirely to himself in the latest sales week, which ended Nov. 30. Slain rapper Tupac Shakur, also known as 2Pac, grabbed second place with his double album "R U Still Down? (Remember Me)," which sold nearly 549,000 copies.

His previous posthumous release, the single-CD "Don Killuminati," released under the pseudonym Makaveli, debuted at No. 1 in November 1996 with almost 664,000 copies.

Altogether, six of the eight holdovers in this week's crop of top 10 albums registered sales increases, due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The two exceptions were Barbra Streisand's "Higher Ground," which slipped a notch to fourth place with 247,200 units sold, an 8 percent decline; and last week's No. 1, Metallica's "Re-Load," which fell to fifth place with 226,500 units, a hefty 48 percent decline.

Celine Dion's "Let's Talk About Love" slipped a notch to third with 337,400 units; LeAnn Rimes' "You Light Up My Life" was steady at sixth with 166,500; Shania Twain's "Come On Over" fell two places to seventh with 165,300; Chumbawamba's "Tubthumper" was unchanged at eighth with 154,900; the Spice Girls continued to defy media pundits as their second release, "SpiceWorld," re-entered the top 10 by climbing two places to ninth with 144,900; Hanson's Christmas album "Snowed In," fell three places to 10th with 134,000.

Interestingly, with record labels rushing to foist seasonal releases on consumers, the top 50 contains just three such albums: the Hanson opus; Mannheim Steamroller's "Christmas Live" at No. 29; and "A Very Special Christmas" at 37.

Among other new releases this week were defunct ska-punk trio Sublime's "Second Hand Smoke" at No. 28; Will Smith's solo debut "Big Willie Style" at a surprisingly low-key 31; Marilyn Manson's "Remix and Repent" at 102; Babyface's "MTV Unplugged" at 106 and a greatest hits set from Sting and the Police at 125.