Adele racks up 3.38 million in 1st week album sales

Adele's new album 25 has sold 3.38 million copies in its first week, smashing single week sales records, according to Nielsen Music.

As reported by Billboard, 25 is the first album to sell more than 3 million copies in one week in Nielsen's history, which has been tracking first week purchases since 1991. The previous record was held by 'NSYNC whose 2000 album No Strings Attached sold 2.4 million copies in its first week.

• Can Adele save the music industry, or just slow its demise?

The release has also become the best-selling album of the year, flying past the 1.8 million copies sold of Taylor Swift's 1989. Adele did not allow streaming services like Spotify to make 25 available.

Her previous album, 21 has sold 11.24 million copies in the United States.