Adele has set fire to the music industry in the first three days since her new album, "25," dropped on Nov. 20, selling 2.3 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. The album is predicted to break the first week sales record held by *NSYNC since 2000.
Industry forecasters predict "25" to sell at least 2.9 million copies by the end of the first week, 4 million more than originally predicted. It's only the second album to sell more than 2 million copies in its first week since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991.
*NSYNC's second studio album, "No Strings Attached," sold 2.4 million copies in its first week ending on March 26, 2000, according to Nielsen Music (via Billboard).
"25" already broke Beyonce's record for fastest selling album on iTunes. Adele's new album sold 900 million copies within the first day of its release compared to the 617,000 copies of Beyonce's self-titled visual album sold in its first three days.
Adele will also be the first artist to have the top-selling album of the year three times in the Nielsen era, surpassing Taylor Swift, Eminem and Justin Timberlake (whose total includes his *NSYNC and solo career).
