Adele has made more music history.
For the first time since Nielsen Soundscan began tracking album sales in 1990, the same record has repeated as the highest-selling CD in the country.
And that honor falls to Adele’s unstoppable “21,” which outsold Taylor Swift‘s “Red” by about 1.3 million units.
“It’s a sort of a once-in-a-lifetime album,” Billboard’s Director of Charts Keith Caulfield told Reuters. “Only a few of these albums come along in history … It’s really the right combination of artistry and hit singles … because of its mixture of fans, she was able to sell it as well as she did.”
Here’s a look at the top five best-sellers in 2012:
- Adele, “21”
- Taylor Swift, “Red” – 3.11 million
- One Direction, “Up All Night”
- One Direction, “Take Me Home”
- Mumford & Sons, “Babel” at fourth