Here are first-week projections for Adele’s 30 album

When Adele released her 25 album, it sold 3.38 million copies in its first week in the US alone. Given the changes in the recorded music industry and how fans consume music (read: the rise of streaming) over the last six years, that’s a record that will never, ever be broken. Everyone now wants to know how well 30, the follow-up to that monster, will do it its first week.

Here’s what we know so far as of Tuesday (November 23).

It took just three days for 30 to become the highest-selling album of 2021, beating out Taylor Swift‘s Evermore. Tay-Tay’s recorded moved 469,000 units in three days while 30 sold 500,000. If we look at Taylor’s re-recording of her Red album, which was released the week before 30, it sold 396,000 copies.

Industry projects suggest that Adele will sell up to 850,000 units by the time the week’s chart closes at 11:59 pm on Thursday. Next week should interesting, too, given that American Thanksgiving will have most stores closed on Thursday. Expect a rush on Black Friday, which will no doubt impact next week’s sales numbers in a big way.