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Pop singer Adele leads U.S., UK pop album charts

Updated: 2011-03-03 14:55

(Agencies)

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Pop singer Adele leads U.S., UK pop album charts

LOS ANGELES  - English pop singer Adele stormed to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop album chart Wednesday with the biggest sales total for any release since November.

Adele, the winner of the best new artist Grammy in 2009, sold a mighty 352,000 copies of her second album "21" during the week ended February 27, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album also hit No. 1 in Britain.

Prior to the album's release, Adele stopped by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" (both on February 24), CBS' "Early Show" (February 25) and "Chelsea Lately" (February 28).

The official video for the album's first single, "Rolling in the Deep," has picked up more than 16 million views on YouTube and Vevo. Adele memorably sang another "21" song, "Someone Like You," during the Brit Awards on February 16, and in two weeks' time, its two most-watched clips on YouTube have racked up 3.3 million views. (By contrast another Brits performer, Rihanna, has tallied 1.3 million views for her most-watched clips from the show.)

It's easily her best sales week and highest-charting album. The last albums to sell as many copies were Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" (496,000 copies) and Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" (375,000) during the sales week ended November 28, 2010.

Adele's debut set "19," which peaked at No. 10, rebounded 34 places to No. 16 on the current chart. It has sold 948,000 copies after 71 weeks.

Adele was basically the only exciting news on the Billboard 200, as the next-highest debut came in at No. 29 from Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows and its "D.R.U.G.S." album (14,000).

Falling one slot each to Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively, were Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never: The Remixes" (102,000), Mumford & Sons' "Sigh No More" (71,000) and "Now 37" (58,000).

Bieber was also at No. 5 with "My World 2.0" (up three, 42,000), marking the first time an artist has had two sets in the top five since Bieber himself managed it last April.

Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" (37,000) and Eminem's "Recovery" (33,600) each slipped one rung to Nos. 6 and 7. Rihanna's "Loud" stepped up two spots to No. 8 (33,300), Minaj's "Pink Friday" held at No. 9 (32,900), and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" dropped six to No. 10 (28,000).

Overall album sales totaled 6.5 million units, down 10% compared with the previous week and up 8% compared with the comparable sales week of 2010. Year-to-date album sales stand at 46.5 million, down 9% compared with the same total at this point last year.

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