The last time British artists occupied the top two spots in the American album charts was in 1993. But now Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith have performed the feat achieved by Eric Clapton and Sting more than two decades ago.

Singer-songwriter Sheeran has succeeded where Take That, Pulp and Oasis had failed and officially cracked America, scoring his first US No 1 album this week.

The second album by the 23-year-old from Suffolk, X (pronounced "multiply"), shot to the top of the US Billboard chart after selling 210,000 copies in America over the past week. Sheeran's new entry knocked Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence from the top spot.

Smith's debut album, In the Lonely Hour, sold 67,000 copies in the US last week to reach No 2, following on from his singles chart success the previous week, when the 22-year-old's track Stay with Me charted at No 1 on the Billboard digital downloads chart.

Sheeran's first album peaked at No 5 in 2012 and he has since collaborated with big names including Taylor Swift and Pharrell Williams. Sheeran's most recent track, Sing, which was produced by and features Williams, is at No 3 in the US singles chart.

Grammy-nominated Sheeran also claims the largest sales week for a British male artist in the US in nearly 10 years.

The last time a British male artist had a bigger week was when Rod Stewart's Stardust … The Great American Songbook Vol III debuted at No 1, selling 240,000 copies in October 2004.

After hearing the news, Sheeran tweeted: "Had my first #1 album in America this week. Thanks for everyone supporting it, that's mental x."

In the UK, X has become the fastest-selling album of 2014, the Official Charts Company said last week. The album sold 182,000 copies in its first week of release, going straight to No 1 and beating the previous record set by Coldplay's Ghost Stories by 14,000 copies.

The success of Sheeran and Smith follows a recent slew of British musical acts conquering the American charts, including Coldplay, One Direction and Adele.

Twenty-one years ago, Eric Clapton's Unplugged was at No 1 and Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales was at No 2.

Sheeran first shot to fame after being spotted by the actor Jamie Foxx while performing in a bar in Los Angeles in 2008, and later gained attention from Elton John, before releasing his debut album in 2011.

Both Smith and Sheeran also made appearances at Glastonbury last weekend. Sheeran described his performance on the Sunday afternoon straight after Dolly Parton as "one of the most incredible gigs of my life". Afterwards, Spotify reported a 195% increase in streaming of his songs.