Re: Adele
Adele's '21' Sells Over 350k to Top Billboard 200
Adele storms in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with her sophomore album "21" selling a mighty 352,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan.
It's her best sales week -- and highest charting album -- and also the highest frame for any album since the sales week ending Nov. 28, 2010. That's when Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" and Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" started in the Nos. 1 and 2 slots, respectively, with 496,000 and 375,000.
Notably, "21" also bows atop the Digital Albums chart with 217,000 downloads -- 62% of the set's overall first week. Again, it's the fattest week for a digital set since West's "My Beautiful" moved 224,000 downloads in its premiere.
Adele, who took home the best new artist Grammy award in 2009, reached No. 10 with her debut set "19." It has spent a total of 71 weeks on the tally and has shifted 948,000 copies in the U.S. This week, it bounds 50-16 on the Billboard 200, giving the singer a pair of albums in the top 20. It's the first time an act has placed their first two releases concurrently in the top 20 since Justin Bieber did it on June 5, 2010 with "My World" and "My World 2.0."
This week, "Rolling In the Deep" -- "21's" first single -- vaults 13-7 on the Digital Songs chart, moving 151,000 (up 26%). To date, since its release to retailers on Nov. 30 of last year, it has sold 621,000.
Another "21" song, "Someone Like You," which she has been performing to great reaction on a number of TV shows lately, bows at No. 45 with 51,000. Adele memorably sung "Someone Like You" on the Brit Awards on Feb. 16 and in two weeks' time, its two clips with the most views on YouTube have racked up 3.3 million views. (To compare, Rihanna also performed on the Brits, singing a medley of songs from her "Loud" album and its most-viewed clips have tallied 1.3 million views.)
Prior to the album's release, Adele stopped by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (Feb. 24), "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" (Feb. 24), CBS' "Early Show" (Feb. 25) and "Chelsea Lately" (Feb. 28). The official video for "Rolling In the Deep" has picked up over 16 million views on YouTube and Vevo.
http://www.billboard.com/news#/news/adele-s-21-sells-over-350k-to-top-billboard-1005054352.story