11 Million Adele Fans Can't Be Wrong
In the sales tracking week that ends Sunday night, Adele's 21 will top the 11 million mark in U.S. sales. The album’s sales stood at 10,999,000 last week, and it is selling about 3K copies a week.
That news is at once not really surprising (the album has been a blockbuster since it was released in 2011) and utterly astounding (in an era when albums are hard-pressed to sell 2 or 3 million copies, how on earth has an album gotten to 11 million?)
And if 21 can sell 11 million in such a challenging sales environment for full-length albums (there’s the understatement of the year), what might it have sold if it had been released around the turn of the millennium, when albums were selling like hotcakes? Between April 1999 and December 2002, 10 albums topped the 10 million mark in U.S. sales, based on Nielsen SoundScan data.
21 topped:
1M sales in April 2011,
2M that June,
3M that August,
4M that October,
5M that December
6M in January 2012,
7M that February,
8M that March,
9M that May,
10M that November.
So why did the album become such a blockbuster? The obvious answer is that it had broad appeal to fans of pop, R&B and adult contemporary. Beyond that, many believe that the album did so well because it stood apart from prevailing musical trends, which emphasize flashy images and bombastic beats. Some even think Adele’s full figure helped set her apart. It reinforced the idea that she’s real and authentic.
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Just in time for 25 to begin it's slayage.
