A loophole in music licensing laws gave Pandora and other streaming radio stations like iHeartRadio and Slacker access to the complete 25 album, which sold 3 million copies in its first week. Keeping “25” off of those services, which pay less than outright sales, risked alienating younger fans who don’t tend to buy CDs. The NSync album sold 2.41 million copies in its first week.
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With over three days left in the sales tracking week, Adele is likely to increase her record number of first week album sales in the USA by a significant amount.
As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, the 27-year-old singer’s latest full-length effort has officially sold more copies in the U.S. in its first week than any other album in history, and the week’s not even over yet.
The year, 2015, has been a fairly slow year for most music sales, as aside from 25.
Basically, Adele has already broken the record for the highest first week sales in the United States since the beginning of time (or at least since Nielsen started counting in 1991). “It was a flattering luxury knowing we sold more records than anyone in a week but it’s also nice seeing people continue to be passionate about music in the next generations”.
Streaming services have helped make over the album-sales landscape in 2015.
The London-born singer became a worldwide superstar following the release of her last record “21”, admitting she was shocked by the attention – but she is “less frightened” by the experience this time around.
On “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”, the second track of the album, the melodies contrast deeply to the usual Adele ballad as a lovely ensemble of voices join in for the upbeat chorus. Considering that record’s music industry dominance – including seven Grammy awards, more than 30 million records sold, and a chart-topper in more than 30 countries – the industry was hotly anticipating its follow-up.
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On the Digital Songs chart, which measures online download sales, Adele’s heartbreak ballad “Hello” held onto the top spot with another 327,000 copies sold this week.
