Adele’s ’25’ Tops U.S. Album Chart, ’21’ Jumps Back Into Top 10
Adele’s “25” has — unsurprisingly — hit No. 1 on the U.S. album sales chart after moving 3,482,000 units in the week ending Nov. 26, according to data from Nielsen Music.
This marks an album’s single largest sales week in the Nielsen SoundScan era. The former holder of the record was *NSYNC’s “No Strings Attached,” which sold 2.416 million copies in its debut week in 2000.
In addition to the gargantuan success of “25,” Adele’s previous album, “21,” has leapt back into the top 10. After topping the chart for multiple weeks after its 2011 release, “21” has charged up the chart from 25th place to ninth place, having moved 46,000 units alongside the release of “25.” “21” is the tenth-largest selling album of the Nielsen era, with more than 11.2 million sold units on the books.
Adele’s chart domination still leaves room for success for other artists, though. Justin Bieber had a relatively large second week for “Purpose,” which finished in second place wtih 290,000 units moved, down 55% from last week’s 649,000-unit debut. One Direction’s second week of “Made in the A.M.” was also strong; the lads finished at No. 3, down 76% with 108,000 units.
Two additional new releases dared to hit the shelves on the same day as “25” and landed in the top 10: Jadakiss’ “Top 5 Dead or Alive” and Enya’s “Dark Sky Island.” Jadakiss debuted in fourth place, moving 66,000 units, and Enya debuted in eighth place, moving 48,000 units.
The rest of the chart plays out as expected. The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness” hopped up to No. 5 from No. 8 after his fiery AMAs performance, up 48% with 63,000 units. Pentatonix also enjoyed an AMAs boost, with “That’s Christmas to Me” popping back into the top 10, up from No. 13 to No. 6 with 61,000 units moved (a 93% jump). Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller” finished at No. 7, up 9% with 58,000 units, and Fetty Wap’s self-titled album lifted 15% to No. 10, moving 38,000 units.
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