To the surprise of absolutely no one, Adele’s “30” is now the top-selling album of 2021 — and it achieved that feat in just three days.
According to initial reports to MRC Data via Billboard, the album, which was released at 12 a.m. ET on Friday, passed the half-million mark on Sunday — topping the total sales of any album released over the past 11 months combined in three days.
It squashed the year’s previous top-seller, Taylor Swift’s“Evermore,” which has 462,000 copies sold through the week ending Nov. 18. (While that album was released last December, it remains a top-seller this year.)
It also topped the previous one-week sales for the year, which was also held by Swift with her “Red (Taylor’s Version),” which dropped last Friday and had sold 369,000 copiesin the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 18.
Getting deeper into the weeds, the “U.S. equivalent album units” earned by “30” – a number that comprises traditional album sales, streaming equivalent album (SEA) units and track equivalent album (TEA) units, according to Billboard — is over 575,000, according to initial reports.
The current tracking week ends at the close of business on Nov. 25, Thanksgiving day.Billboardis scheduled to announce the album’s official final first-week numbers on Sunday, Nov. 28, after MRC Data has completed processing the week’s data.
Needless to say, “30” is virtually a lock to debut at No. 1 on theBillboard 200albums chart dated Dec. 4 (which reflects the tracking week ending Nov. 25). It will be Adele’s third No. 1 album in the U.S.
