In a world where people prefer streaming instead of buying music, it’s become increasingly rare for artists to sell one million copies of a record. Until 30 crossed the platinum threshold, it looked like 2021 was going to be another disappointing year.
In its first week of release, Adele’s album sold 692,000 units. The next week it sold 225,000. With its third week of release in the books, 30 is now the only album this year to sell over one million units.
The last album to breach the million threshold was Folklore by Taylor Swift. To date, that album has sold 1.55 million traditional units. That happened over a year ago, showing just how much the traditional album sales market has shrunk.