Adele Could Possibly Break A Once-Untouchable Record

It’s impossible to ignore how popular Adele is. No one is debating that the English singer has a nearly universal appeal, and you can see that from all the records she is breaking. But even her most ardent supporters could not have predicted the news that is coming from Billboard in terms of sales from her first week.

During the pop-music boom of the late ’90s and early ’00s, huge debuts were almost commonplace. It’s not an accident that six of the biggest first-week album sales happened between 1999 and 2001 (and two others belong to Taylor Swift.) But now, considering streaming, YouTube, and so many other outlets for music, to pull off a sales debut that would even match a fraction of that would be considered a success.

But the “When We Were Young” singer is going far beyond what’s “considered a success.” Billboard is reporting that her new album dropping tomorrow, 25, could possibly sell 2.5 million copies, which would be the highest-selling first week ever. The current record holder, *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached, sold 2.4 million copies in its first week.

Billboard suggests that the album is able to sell this many copies due to high online presales and that her label is shipping 3.6 million physical copies out to stores, the most of one album in a decade. That is so many CDs! Who is buying them?! Definitely someone.

Regardless, Adele’s next week is not only going to be a prosperous one after years of a hard work; it could also potentially be an all-time week for the music industry itself. That’s something worth smiling about.

(Via Billboard)

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