Adele's 25 sells 2.3M in 3 days; poised to set new sales records

Adele appears on track to set new sales records with 25,the British singer's much-anticipated follow-up to her blockbuster album21.

Music fans have been eagerly snapping up the award-winning British singer's new album, whether throughdownloads or physicalalbums from bricks-and-mortar shops, since its release Friday.

Inits first three days of release, Adele's25already sold at least 2.3 million albumsin the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.As of Monday night, industry forecasters were suggesting the album could finish the week with 2.9 million sold.

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Apple'siTunessold more than 900,000 copies on Friday, according to musicindustry publicationBillboard.

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Meanwhile, retailers such as Target,which is selling anexclusive version of the albumfeaturing bonus tracks, and Barnes &Noblehave noted that the album's opening-daysales made company history.

Thecurrent one-week record is held by 1990s-eraboy band 'N Sync, which sold 2.42 million copies of No Strings Attached in 2000. That album istheonly one to sell more than two million copies in the U.S. in a single week since 1991, whenNielsen Music first began tracking point-of-sale music purchases.

It's a similar story across the Atlantic, where the Official Charts Company reported that25sold more than half a million copies in its first three days of releaseand stands to become fastest selling UK album ever.

No to immediate streaming

Releasing music via streaming services is the most common way for new music to debut today. However, following the lead ofTaylor Swift, British songstress Adele decided to snub streaming platforms at least initially by not making her album immediatelyavailable on services such asSpotify or Apple Music.

Adele bypasses streaming for 25

9 years ago

Duration 2:56

The British singer has shunned the music streaming services in releasing her new album

• Adele's 25 won't be available for streaming on Spotify or Apple Music

Now, the speculation is swirling around just how high 25 will reach.

Nielsen Music, whichtracks record sales Friday through Thursday, will report its latest weekly figures on Nov. 26. Billboard is slated to report sales numbers for 25's first week on Nov. 29.

Adele has been making headlines for several weeks, at first teasing out 25's release with a primeTV spot, online missives, music video debut,special appearances and interviews. This pastweekend, the campaign continued with several high-profile performances, including in aBBC TV special andan appearance as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

In March, an Official Charts Company report namedAdele's last album, 2011's21, the best-selling artist album of the millennium. Ithas sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.