On Tuesday evening, Nielsen announced, via Billboard, that Adele’s 21 was the 21st album to exceed 10 million in U.S. sales since 1991 (when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales), making it the third album in 2012 to reach this sales milestone.
Noting on the achievements from Adele, Usher, and Linkin Park, David Bakula, Nielsen’s SVP of Client Relations, says:
“One of the most remarkable things about Adele is how quick 21 got to 10 million albums sold. It takes a very consistent level of strong consumer demand to move 10 million units in less than two years. Linkin Park and Usher also reaching 10 million albums sold in 2012 shows that consumer demand for albums is still very strong across many different genres of music.”
