Quantcast
HITS Daily Double

U.K. MIDWEEKS: ADELE SHIFTS 538K

Adele is on track to knock Oasis off the fastest selling U.K. album throne as 25 shifts 538k copies in Blighty after just three days on sale, according to Official Charts Company data. Oasis hold the all-time record for their 1997 set Be Here Now (Creation), which notched up 696k in its first week. With four days left, has XL/Columbia's Queen of Pop got enough time to claim the title?

It’s looking good so far. A 700k+ week one is on the cards, according to MBW sources. In Blighty, apart from Oasis, the only album to sell more than 500k in a week was Take That’s Progress (Polydor), which moved 519k on its debut in 2010.

Adele’s second album, 21, was deemed a phenomenon when it sold 208k+ in its first week in January 2011 and passed the 500k sales milestone by its fourth week on sale. The album achieved its biggest one-week tally in its 10th week on sale, moving 258k in seven days.

If 21 was a phenomenon, 25 has reached the stratosphere. Team Adele, including manager Jonathan Dickins, made the decision to keep the full album off streaming services (at least for now), and the move appears to be paying off big time.

In non-Adele related news, Elvis’s former chart-topping collection If I Can Dream (RCA/Legacy Recordings) climbs back up to #2 on the midweek U.K. Official Album Chart, and Justin Bieber’s Purpose (Def Jam) is down one place to #3.

Enya’s first album seven years, Dark Sky Island (Warner), starts at #4 on today’s update, and last week’s chart-toppers One Direction complete the Top 5 with Made In The A.M (SYCO).

On the midweek Official Singles Chart, it’s a tussle between Adele and Bieber, who’s remarkably still holding on to #1 with “Sorry” in the face of fierce competition. Adele’s comeback track “Hello” is at #2, lagging by 3k combined sales. Elsewhere, Bieber continues his domination of the Top 5 with two other tracks, a feat which last week saw him beat John Lennon’s chart record as the last male artist to achieve a Top 5 singles trifecta. “Love Yourself” continues at #3, with “What Do You Mean” also staying put at #5. SYCO’s Fleur East is at #4 with debut single “Sax.”

Further down the chart, there are two new entries from Adele: Tobias Jesso Jr. collaboration “When We Were Young” and “Million Years Agofrom 25 are at #15 and #32 respectively. The 2012 James Bond theme “Skyfallalso re-enters the Top 40 at #39.