With all that in mind, industry projections for 25's first-week sales range between 1.3 and 1.8 million, which means it could claim another title: the biggest debut week for a female in the Nielsen era (1991 to the present), beating previous record-holder Britney Spears, whose Oops!... I Did It Again bowed with 1.32 million in May 2000.
In the case of Adele, Alliance Entertainment senior vp Laura Provenzano credits a seamless transition from 2011's 21 (11.2 million sold) to "Hello." "She picks up right where she left off," says Provenzano, noting that a key factor in Adele's sales potency is her strength in physical: Digital downloads comprised just 28 *percent of 21's U.S. sales.
Adds another music merchandiser: "Will Adele hit 1 million? A more *realistic question is will it hit 2 *million?" (The biggest week of the Nielsen era remains 'N Sync's 2000 LP No Strings Attached with 2.4 million.)
Still, there are potential hurdles. Some merchandisers believe the label is three weeks behind in the marketing cycle for a proper album setup. "It's going to be tight to get everything in place," says one source.
As for Spotify, a Sony insider says a decision hasn't yet been made on streaming services, which prompts another question: Will the label try to restrict 25 from streaming on the ad-supported tiers of Spotify and other digital services to boost sales? And if so, will Spotify capitulate this time, after refusing to stream Swift's 1989 if it wasn't available on both the subscription and "freemium" tiers? According to Spotify,
"Hello" is likely to notch a record number of *worldwide first-week streams, *beating Bieber's 30 million-plus for "What Do You Mean?" Some might say this is a battle that's just *beginning, while others would insist Adele has already won.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...forecast-hello
If she snatched Nsync record id be shocked. I really didn't even see 1M from her being gone for 5 years.