Adele”s “21” turns Sweet 16 as the title spends its 16th non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Her tally gives the unsinkable album that longest weeks at No. 1 since the “Titanic” soundtrack which ruled for that long a period in 1997-1998. In the SoundScan era, which began in 1991, only five albums have spent 16 weeks or more at No. 1 and the album to beat remains the soundtrack to “The Bodyguard,” which logged 20 weeks at the top. So in order to set the record, “21” needs to spend, somewhat poetically, 21 weeks at No. 1.
With sales of 104,000 units, “21” has a commanding lead over David Crowder Band”s “Give Us Rest,” which comes in at No. 2 with sales of 50,000. This marks the first time the Christian praise act, which declared this to be its last studio album, has landed in the top 10: its previous best was No. 11.
The only other debut in the top 10 belongs to Snow Patrol”s “Fallen Empires,” which bows at No. 5 with sales of 31,000. In between the two new titles are The Black Keys” “El Camino,” which holds at No. 3 and Drake”s “Take Care” which slips 2-4.
Rounding out the bottom half of the top 10 are Young Jeezy”s “TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition,” which drops 4-6; Rihanna”s “Talk That Talk,” which falls one spot to No. 7; Coldplay”s “Mylo Xyloto,” which tumbles 5-8; Nickelback”s “Here & Now,” which bounces back up into the Top 10 moving 11-9; and “Now That”s Music 40,” which drops 9-10.
In a dispiriting note, “Mylo Xyloto” (20,000), “Here & Now” (19,000), and “Now 40” (17,000) all sell less than 20,000 copies. This is the first time in SoundScan”s 21 years that an album with sales of 20,000 or below has reached the Top 10.
On a more positive note, overall album sales for the week ending Jan. 15 were up 6% for comparable sales week in 2011, according to Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/#/news/adele-matches-titanic-s-no-1-run-atop-billboard-1005904952.story