Adele album sales soar in first week of release

Singer Adele's new album 25 looks set to break record sales and climb charts. Photo / Getty

The long-awaited new album by Adele, 25, looks set to break the modern record for first week sales.

Billboard, the music industry journal that publishes weekly charts, said the offering, released on Friday, appeared likely to sell at least 2.5 million copies in the United States.

No Strings Attached by boy band N'SYNC, starring Justin Timberlake, is the only other album which opened with sales above two million since systematic weekly tracking began in 1991.

No Strings Attached sold 2.4 million copies in its first week in 2000 - a year before the launch of Apple's iTunes, which drastically changed buying habits.

In a rare move that surely boosted sales, Adele's label chose not to make 25 available through streaming, a vast-growing platform that offers unlimited, on-demand music online.

25 is still available for purchase digitally and sold 900,000 copies on iTunes in the United States on the first day, according to Billboard.

It also looked to be one of the biggest debuts ever in Adele's native Britain, where the Official Charts Company said it sold 300,000 copies on day one.

The only album with a bigger first-day debut was Be Here Now by Oasis, which sold 424,000 copies in 1997 - again, an era in which overall music sales were much higher.

"Adele truly is a once-in-a-generation artist. Her appeal spans age groups and genres, from children to teenagers, right through to mums and dads, uncles and aunties," Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot said.

The music industry has placed enormous hopes in Adele with 25.

Her last album, 21 from 2011, was the top-seller in the United States for two straight years and is the biggest release in Britain so far this century.

The new CD, features smash hit Hello - and consists largely of songs of heartache and nostalgia.

-AFP