On the Charts: Adele’s ’25’ Spends Sixth Week at Number One
2016 on the Billboard 200 begins the same way 2015 ended: With Adele at Number One and selling albums at a pace the music industry hasn’t seen in over a decade.
With another 363,000 copies sold of 25 – a 70 percent drop from its platinum-selling last week spurred by a post-Christmas sales dip – Adele‘s latest ended 2015 with a total of 7.44 million copies sold. That’s the most albums sold in a calendar year since 2004 when Usher’s Confessions moved 7.98 million copies, Billboard reports. Whereas Usher’s LP was released in March, 25 managed to sell upwards of 7 million in just over 40 days after its release.
25‘s six consecutive weeks at Number One is also the longest stretch since the Frozen soundtrack spent eight straight weeks at the Billboard 200 in 2014. In a post-Christmas/pre-New Year’s Eve week where few artists released a new album, the majority of the Top 10 remained the same going into 2016. Justin Bieber’s Purpose held steady at Number Two with 217,000 copies sold, closing the seemingly insurmountable gap between his new album and 25. Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface flew from 11 to Number Three thanks to an iTunes Store sale.
The upper echelon of the charts featured mostly familiar faces: One Direction’s Made in the A.M. (Number Four), Fetty Wap’s self-titled album (Number Five), the Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness (Number Six), Selena Gomez’s Revival (Number Seven), Chris Brown’s Royalty (Number Eight) and Taylor Swift’s 1989, who opened 2015 at Number One, at Number Nine. The lone surprise this week was Bryson Tiller’s Trapsoul, released in early October, infiltrating the Top 10 for the first time.
Barring a surprise release by a major artist, 25 should enjoy at least a few weeks reign atop 2016’s Billboard 200.