Not only did Adele's 25 shatter the record for most albums sold in the U.S. in a single week, it also exceeded all estimations and expectations as the LP tallied a colossal total of 3.38 million copies in its debut week. Adele's 25 became only the second album to sell over 2 million copies in its first week – joining previous record holder N'Sync's No Strings Attached, which moved 2.42 million copies in its first week of sales in March 2000 – and the first album ever to exceed 3 million in sales in one week, Billboard reports.
After just seven days of availability, 25 is already the U.S.'s highest-selling album of 2015, nearly doubling the 1.8 million copies of Taylor Swift's 1989 had accrued in the first 11 months of the year. Adele's latest is also just the 20th album to put up platinum numbers – over a million copies sold – in its first week of sales since Nielsen started keeping track in 1991.
With 25's massive week, Adele's catalog is now responsible for the top-selling album in three of the past five years: 21 was the bestselling album of 2011 and 2012 – the first time in charts history that an album repeated that feat – and 25 will undoubtedly hold the crown of 2015's bestseller when the calendar turns. 21 has sold over 11 million copies since its release in 2011, and if 25 keeps its current sales trajectory, it will be the favorite to be the highest-selling LP of 2016 as well, especially if the singer continues to keep it off of streaming services.
25 didn't just break sales records in the U.S.: In Adele's native U.K., 25 put up the biggest selling opening week in the history of the Official Charts Company, ousting Oasis' Be Here Now. Adele's latest sold over 800,000 copies in the U.K. – toppling Be Here Now's opening week of 696,00 in 1997 – and, with over 250,000 digital purchases of the LP, quickly racked the most downloads ever in an opening week in the history of the British charts, Billboard writes.
On the British album charts, Adele's 25, which easily placed Number One, sold more than the albums slotted at Number Two through Number 87 combined. Expect similar domination stateside when the complete Billboard 200 rankings are announced early next week.