Adele’s ’30’ Has Largest Annual Sales for Any Album Since 2018, Logs Sixth Week at No. 1 on Top Album Sales

January 8, 2022 E Jazz Reporter

’30’ is the first album with six weeks in a row at No. 1 on Top Album Sales in six years, since Adele’s ’25’ had seven straight weeks in the lead.

Adele
Simon Emmett*

Adele’s 30 locks up a sixth consecutive week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated Jan. 8). It’s the first album with six weeks in a row at No. 1 since Adele’s own 25 linked together seven straight weeks in the lead six years ago (Dec. 12, 2015 – Jan. 23, 2016-dated charts). 25 spent a total of 11 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on Top Album Sales.

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30 sold 72,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 30, 2021 (down 60%) – the final tracking week of 2021 for MRC Data. After just six weeks in release, 30 sold 1.463 million copies in the U.S., and easily closed the year as the top-selling album – and the only album to sell a million copies.

And, with 1.463 million sold in 2021, 30 is the biggest selling album of any calendar year in the U.S. since 2018, when the soundtrack to The Greatest Showman sold 1.491 million.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

As for the rest of the top 10 on the latest Top Album Sales chart: Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Red (Taylor’s Version) is a non-mover at No. 2 with 21,000 sold (down 56%), while Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping Sour climbs 6-3 with 20,000 sold (down 39%). NCT’s Universe: The 3rd Album, Neo Culture Technology moves 5-4 with 18,000 (down 51%), Billie Eilish’s former leader Happier Than Ever steps 7-5 with 13,000 (down 50%) and The Beatles’ No. 1 Abbey Road bumps 11-6 with 12,000 (down 46%).

A trio of former No. 1s are next on the list: NCT 127’s Sticker: The 3rd Album rises 16-7 with 12,000 (down 18%), Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) ascends 13-8 with 11,000 (down 40%) and Harry Styles’ Fine Line climbs 12-9 with nearly 11,000 (down 42%). TWICE’s Formula of Love: O+T=