Modern Times has been widely praised by critics, with Rolling Stone magazine arguing that the latest effort by Mr Tambourine Man’s can "stand alongside the accomplishments of his wild youth".

The Times, however, was less impressed. It described the album as "a rambling river of blues, country, gospel and folk, a sepia-tinted heartland idyll that predates rock’n’roll," arguing that much of it was "lazy and unfocused", while managing to impart "just enough autumnal grandeur and poetic wisdom to keep the Dylan myth-making machine ticking over".

Record buyers, meanwhile, have bought the album in huge numbers after seeing Dylan perform the new track Someday Baby in silhouette on the latest iPod advert.

Dylan’s profile has also been boosted by his hosting of a show on satellite radio, and the release of a short film online starring Scarlett Johansson, which is set to another new song, When The Deal Goes Down.

Dylan, who became famous for his searing protest songs during the 1960s, is the latest in a long line of musicians, including Bono, who have agreed to promote their albums via iPod endorsements in spite of a general suspicion of "going corporate".

Dylan has been criticised for selling-out before – most notably when he went electric in 1965 with his album Highway 61 Revisited.

Modern Times sold 192,000 copies in its first week and also opened at No1 in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland.

In Britain, it went straight in at No 3 after selling 55,000 copies. "We couldn’t be more thrilled that fans have responded to it so enthusiastically by putting Bob at No. 1, which is where he belongs," said Steve Barnett, chairman of Columbia Records, which has been home to Dylan since 1961.

Although Johnny Cash and Ray Charles have also enjoyed top-selling albums in recent years, both were released posthumously. Dylan has previously topped the album charts with 1975’s Blood on the Tracks – considered one of his all-time classics – and 1974’s Planet Waves.

Dylan has enjoyed a spectacular comeback over the last decade, however, beginning with 1997’s Time Out of Mind, which debuted at No 10 and went on to win the Grammy for album of the year. He followed it with Love and Theft in 2001, which charted at No 5.

Overall, Dylan has sold nearly 100 million albums during a career that has spanned almost 50 years.