There's a new kid on the block in the U.S. charts. Introducing Bob Dylan, aged 65, with his album Modern Times.

The American music legend is in top spot for the first time in three decades and is the oldest living person to launch a new record at No 1. More than 40 years after he emerged as an angry young folk singer, Dylan left newcomers such as Jessica Simpson, OutKast and Christina Aguilera blowin' in the wind with U.S. sales of 192,000 since the album's release last week.

On the album, Dylan takes a harsh look at contemporary culture and he has made no secret of his distaste for much of recent popular music.

He told Rolling Stone recently: "I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years."

One cut on the album features Dylan's distinctive drawl singing: "You think I'm over the hill, you think I'm past my prime?" before concluding defiantly: "Let me see what you got, we can have a whoppin' good time."

There could be a showdown of sorts on the way with Dylan going head to head with Justin Timberlake, whose new album record is released next week.

But for now, Modern Times is also No 1 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland. In Britain, it debuted at No 3 with the best one-week album sales tally of Dylan's career, 55,000.

His last No 1 album, Desire, topped the charts in 1976 and stayed there for five weeks. At the time, he was on his Rolling Thunder Revue tour and winning publicity for his protest tune Hurricane.

His new album came out as Dylan and his band continued their Never Ending Tour of the world. Despite a health scare when he was treated for a heart condition in 1997, Dylan continues to perform relentlessly, often changing the songs from one night to the next, and says he has no plans to retire.

He also continues to keep his private life a closely-guarded secret, refusing to confirm how many wives he has had or how many children.

It is only the fourth time in his career he's had a top-seller. His other No. 1 albums were 1975's Blood on the Tracks and 1974's Planet Waves.

Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone topped a 2004 list of the 500 best songs of all time compiled by Rolling Stone magazine.

More senior stars Johnny Cash and Ray Charles both had No 1 albums in recent years, but they were released posthumously.