Baltasar Kormákur's action thriller pulled in more than $24m to outperform Disney's rereleased Beauty and the Beast at the top end of the chart.
Joyful Noise was another new entry at number four, while last week's chart-topper The Devil Inside fell to sixth.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol took third with $11.5m, with Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows rounding off the top five.
The US top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) Contraband - $24,100,000
2. (-) Beauty and the Beast (3D) - $18,490,000
3. (2) Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - $11,500,000
4. (-) Joyful Noise - $11,345,000
5. (3) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - $8,410,000
6. (1) The Devil Inside - $7,900,000
7. (4) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - $6,800,000
8. (5) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked - $5,800,000
9. (6) War Horse - $5,607,000
10. (26) The Iron Lady - $5,386,000
Watch a trailer for Contraband below:
