The Weeknd holds off Britain's the xx at top of Billboard 200

(Reuters) - Canadian rapper the Weeknd held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart for a third straight week, holding off British band the xx and its new release "I See You," according to figures on Monday from Nielsen SoundScan. After eight weeks on release, the Weeknd's "Starboy" added another 60,000 units sold for the week, while alternative music group the xx notched up some 45,000 sales to mark their highest-charting album ever on the Billboard 200. In a week of few new releases, the soundtracks from movies "La La Land" and "Moana" were the other biggest sellers. The Billboard 200 album chart tallies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album). British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran again dominated the digital songs chart, which measures online song sales. His single "Shape of You," released two weeks ago, sold 119,000 units for the week. The new single from U.S. group the Chainsmokers had to be satisfied with second place with sales of 91,000 units. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)