Adele's "25" obliterates every first week sales record in history...

…and coming at a time when platinum albums are close to extinct, it's even more astounding.

Just to put it in perspective, last year was very nearly the first one EVER (since the certificate was coined) where there wasn't a single platinum album - only a late entry by Taylor Swift prevented that, and at the time it was incredible to see it sell about 1.8 million. The domination of the charts was Beatlesque in proportion, if not volume. Just a year later, this album has completely smashed Swift's number, nearly doubling it.

Adele is beating records that were set during the ridiculous late '90s pop era, when teen pop acts were regularly selling close to (or in a few cases above) two million albums in their debut week.

Wish I was a fan of the album - I like Adele, but I don't believe she has made an album that's lived up to her potential, much less anything close to a truly great one. "Rolling in the Deep" is the only track of hers that I've bothered holding on to, everything has been long deleted.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...r-three-million-copies-in-first-week-20151129

 

Good for her. She's an excellent singer and is more than deserving of the records she's breaking.

 

I have lots of respect for Adele, she's very smart. Having taken a break, there has been almost
unprecedented hype of her new album, taking advantage of the current media opportunities to
promote sales in a way few artists have done in recent years. Therefore I think the results speak
for themselves, the fact it translated into a hit record doesn't surprise me at all. Well done.

Also, I don't generally assume that a quality record and big sales go together, especially these days
when promoting an album is as much about the "story" of the artist than just the music itself. Adele is a
great story. She's also very talented and endearing to her fans, it's a perfect mix for huge success.

 

Just imagine the sales on this if this was the 90s...

Most of the purchases come from the kind of people who only buy one CD a year, it's safe to say. It doesn't change the fact that these are dire times for the music industry and artists/writers in particular.

 

I happen to stalk that demographic and I don't care to have them scared off. Don't mind him, ladies. I've been an Adele fan for many years.

 

wow, so not only a world class beatles/mccartney shrine, now a hook up site. guess something has to take the place of ashley mad.

 

Did you mean Modern Family, Steve?

 

For me, I like what I like. I don't care and have never cared whether my liking an artist fits any demographic or is considered to be "cool" or not.

I like Adele, and I am glad that if the masses have chosen to embrace someone, at least in this case, the person does have some real talent.

 

I am the target audience, and think she is okay, but never owned anything by her

I find her music likable and not bad, but just not my thing really. She is good and talented for sure!

 

I can guarantee you that likely close to a million copies will have been sold just since Black Friday. I've talked to some of the folks who work at the local music stores, and all of tell me it was flying off the shelves over the holiday weekend, even faster than it was in the past week leading up to it. One manager told me that almost every other sale he was ringing the morning of Black Friday had a copy of 25 in it. He could barely keep the shelves stocked with it.

 

Imagine how many more CD's and downloads she'd sell if the mastering didn't stink. Or, are there so few of us anymore that care about quality musical playback?

On another forum, a number of folks have said they're fans, but would not buy the CD because it is nearly unlistenable on a quality audio system. However, apparently, the vinyl mastering does not suffer from the same DR compression.

 

Quite an achievement.
A few weeks ago I recall reading another thread re: industry trade mags stating how much everyone was betting on Adele's new release. I was skeptical of all the typical pending media hype, bombast and attention.

I think it's smart for Adele to promote various songs on her TV appearances. Enables album longevity.

My brother in law bought the CD and played it on Thanksgiving for the family. I was more surprised to see he actually had the CD more than hearing any of the tracks... which sounded good, but maybe I'll enjoy it more upon repeat listenings.

Now the music industry has a Star to put on top of this year's holiday tree.

 

Well, my wife (who bought it) is a little older than that, but, close.
For the record, she didn't care for it after a week of listening...nor did I. Apparently, we didn't connect with Adele's woes.

 

Yes, I'm sure the album would've moved at least 46 extra copies with better mastering!

 

3.38 million - geez, I'm starting to feel the "Must Buy Coolio" effect kicking in!

I'm 44 and I occasionally watch Family Guy.

 

45

You can count me out.

 

Probably 50 or 60.

 

I finally decided to look her up after so much hype, and my wife played me one of her songs. The wife said that she had trouble finding a song that wasn't depressing. Like the OP, I do really like the "Rolling in the Deep" song.

 

50+ I bought it.

 

With that many sold i'll wait till it hit's the used bins for .99 in a couple years, my buy list is quite long at the moment...

 

With a better mastering it could have done Guns N Roses numbers