Hilderic

I know it sounds ridicolous but I think she has actually been quite unlucky in the UK. All those weeks at number 2. I mean, 22 weeks at number one is patethic compared to what the Album did in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands and even the US. Especially because this is her home country. All this relatively speaking, of course (I knows she has done amazingly).

Thriller is less than 100k away so it'll overtake it very soon. And 21 has overtaken its "normal" total long ago. Try killing Adele and see what happens.

Yes, some of those certifications are rather old. Personally, I am sure it has cleared 18 million, though 20 million seems to me a bit of a stretch. But I don't have evidence to argue so I guess the 18-20 million range is fine.

If you add up all available certfications from Europe, the main countries of the Americas and Australia/ New Zealand you get to something like 15.5 million albums sold. Of the missing markets (Africa, Asia, smaller Latin American countries), the only relevant ones are the East Asian markets, but I've never heard of a Western album selling 8 million copies there. Moreover, "Hybrid Theory" peaked at 19 in Japan. For the sake of comparison, "Meteora" peaked at 6 and went platinum (250,000 copies sold). Anyway, even if you allow for a million copies sold in Japan, you won't get near 24 million worldwide. Finally, the label itself claimed 18 million copies sold as of 2007 (which may well have been inflated as well at the time, though not much, possibly by a million); the Live Earth press release given as a source on Wikipedia is from 2007 as well, so that makes its claim rather suspicious. Though it's not official, Mediatraffic also states that the album sold 18 million copies. That Wikipedia list has very many other mistakes, for example "Confessions" at 20 million copies sold.

She already has. Please don't trust the Wikipedia list, it's often based on claims by the record labels. Which inflate numbers.

In the 2006 all time list: 8. Michael Jackson, Thriller (3,570,250) 9. Michael Jackson, Bad (3,549,950) So I guess there might have been a time when Bad was ahead of Thriller.

If? Ever? She's 130k away from number 5. She'll be there before the start of the summer.

You're right but I don't buy some's argument that the fact that fewer people own the album is the reason why DWAH sold better than 21 this week. There is only one reason- and if XL resorted to that trick, then 30 weeks at number one wouldn't be a problem. Oh well she's only 2 weeks shy of the mark in NZ and no big release in sight!

Actually, last year I thought this had a chance of overtaking Bridge over Troubled Water and now it's basically impossible; sooo many weeks at number 2. Chart-wise it has done much better in other countries (33 weeks at number one and counting in the Flanders). Oh, and do you realise that it has been replaced at the top by an EVEN older album?

So, only 1,800 copies between Adele and The Maccabees. Still hope for her to be number one.

Won't Adele catch up with The Maccabees? I mean, she has spent more than 20 wks at number one in Canada, NZ, Australia, Ireland but not in the UK. And this is her home country. Even the US are catching up (she'll reach 16 weeks at number one this week)... Mind you, I know she has sold loads

I wasn't clear enough, I meant singles from 21 (I edited it) Of course people know about the other songs of 21 but they are only tracks as of now.

If Adele performs early on, I hope she sings Set Fire to the Rain. The song will probably still be top 30 by then and an XF performance will help it reach top 10. After all, it is described by many as the third best single of 21 and I believe it would have gone top 3 already had there been a video or a major performance to promote it. But with neither of these I reckon that many people still believe that SLY and RITD are the only singles from 21.

I thought Adele would be there in October as well as getting a slot in the final. I mean, 2 X factor performances would mean that 4 million by the end of the year is pretty much locked...