Adele has officially rewritten the U.K. chart record books, as confirmation arrives Friday, Nov. 27 from the Official Charts Company that 25 has recorded the biggest opening sales week in history. Unavailable on any streaming services, it has also become the most-downloaded No. 1 album ever.
The album ended the week with sales of 800,307 copies, smashing the previous record of 696,000 created by Oasis’ Be Here Now in 1997 — although it must be added that that disc was released on a Thursday, when the chart sales week ran until a Saturday night, so it reached its mark in only three days.
25 sold more than the next 86 albums on the artist chart combined, and moved 252,423 downloads; the previous best was 95,709 for Ed Sheeran’s X last year.
Justin Bieber breaks a record of his own on the singles countdown, claiming the top two places to become the first artist to achieve the feat since Madonna in 1985. “Sorry” started a second week at No. 1 and “Love Yourself” at No. 2.
Via Billboard
