Adele knows how to sell albums. Her debut, 19 is only certified 3-times Platinum by the RIAA. She bumped those numbers up with her next two LPs, though, as 21 is 14-times Platinum and 25 is 11-times Platinum. Now, Adele is fresh off the release of 30 and it appears that album is also on its way to sales greatness. In fact, it’s only been out for a few days and it’s already making substantial waves.
Billboard reports that through November 21 (so over the first three days of its release), 30 has sold over half a million copies in the US, which makes it the top-selling album of the year so far. 2021’s previous best-seller, Taylor Swift’s Evermore (which came out in late 2020), has moved 462,000 copies through the week ending November 18.
To clarify, these numbers don’t including streaming figures, so it’s likely that when the final first-week numbers for 30 are unveiled, they’ll be notably higher than 500,000.
If 30 debuts atop the Billboard 200 (which seems all but guaranteed at this point), it will be her third No. 1 album, following 21 and 25. It also won’t be her first chart-topper in recent weeks, as “Easy On Me” was No. 1 on the Hot 100 for four straight weeks before Taylor Swift took its place on top.
