Adele’s 25 has now officially sold just over 3 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.
Before 25 was released, it seemed like a sure thing that it would sell a million copies in its first week. But then, the question became: Could it beat Britney Spears’ single-week album sales record for a female artist (Oops!…I Did It Again, with 1.32 million).
After that feat seemed achievable, prognosticators started to aim much higher: Might it hit 2 million and perhaps surpass *NSYNC’s thought-to-be-unbreakable record of 2.42 million (set when its No Strings Attached debuted in the week ending March 26, 2000)? It could — and it did, two days ago.
Now 25 has done the seemingly impossible: It has sold more than 3 million copies in the U.S. in less than a week — and its first tracking week isn’t even over yet.
After processing the first sales reports through Nov. 25, Nielsen Music reports the set has sold just over 3 million copies in the U.S.. 25 was released on Nov. 20 through XL/Columbia Records. It is Adele’s third studio album.
There is slightly more than one day left in the sales tracking week to be tabulated (as it ends at the close of business on Thursday, Nov. 26). How high will 25 go? Stay tuned.
Billboard is scheduled to report 25′s debut week sales on Sunday, Nov. 29, once Nielsen has finished processing its weekly data.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.com.
