Adele has broken some chart records with her latest No.1 album.
30 (Columbia) debuted at the summit with sales of 261,856, according to the Official Charts Company. It’s the biggest weekly sale since Ed Sheeran’s ÷ posted 206,411 in its third week at No.1 in March 2017.
The result puts Columbia at No.1 on the market shares for AES (All Albums) on 13.1% and AES (Artist Albums) on 13.5%. Physical sales accounted for a whopping 32.8% of artist album sales for the week.
Adele’s 30 has the biggest opening for a female solo album since her last album, 25, in 2015. Four consecutive No.1 studio albums is also a record for a female artist.
Adele’s sales figures for 30 are comfortably ahead of ABBA’s 203,909 for Voyage a fortnight ago. 30’s total was made up of 67% physical sales and it is this week’s biggest seller on vinyl (16,700 copies), although that’s less than ABBA’s weekly vinyl sale of 29,891.
30 was also the most-streamed album of the week with 55.7 million plays across its 12 tracks, or 44,190 equivalent chart sales - a record weekly total for a female artist.
However, Adele did not manage to claim Ed Sheeran’s streaming crown. Even though it was released almost five years ago, ÷’s streaming-equivalent sales of 78,944 are now beginning to look unassailable. (Adele’s total for 30 was actually the fifth biggest streaming total behind ÷’s first two weeks, Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project and Drake’s Scorpion.)
Adele also landed the chart double as Easy On Me claimed a sixth consecutive week at No.1 (100,627 sales) - her longest run at the summit. It is joined in the Top 5 by album tracks Oh My God (No.2, 53,429 sales) and I Drink Wine (No.4, 49,520 sales).
Adele would have seven of this week’s Top 10 but for chart rules limiting primary artists to three entries.
Music Week’s charts analysis revealed another record for Adele. Although falling short of taking the top three positions simultaneously – something only Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran have ever done – Adele sets a new benchmark for a female soloist, eclipsing Olivia Rodrigo’s feat of placing three songs in the Top 5 just 24 weeks ago
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