Adele’s “25” has topped 10 million sales in the United States, her second album to cross the threshold as the English singer cements her status as the century’s top-selling artist.
The Recording Industry Association of America presented Adele a plaque certifying that “25,” released in November, had gone diamond platinum, or sold 10 million, at a ceremony backstage at New York’s Madison Square Garden where she just played six sold-out shows, her publicist announced Tuesday.
The US industry body in its latest certifications said that it also recognised that Adele’s 2011 album “21” had sold 14 million copies in the United States, the world’s largest music market.
Adele, who has achieved similar historic success in her native Britain, is the only artist to sell albums at such volume since digital music went mainstream in the early 2000s.
A handful of other albums since 2000 have also gone diamond platinum but all have been around a decade before Adele.
They include rap superstar Eminem’s “The Eminem Show” and country pop singer Shania Twain’s “Up!” in 2002 and, in 2000, teen idol Britney Spears’ “Oops!…I Did It Again,” boy band NSYNC’s “No Strings Attached” and Beatles compilation “1.”
Adele has performed some of the most recognisable songs in recent years with tear-jerker ballads such as “Someone Like You” and “Hello,” winning an audience that crosses demographic and age lines.
In a rare move, she initially kept “25” off fast-growing streaming services such as Spotify, where the album finally appeared in June, seven months after its release.