Chart News: Rihanna Scores 1st No.1 and Adele goes Diamond in America

One week after Rihanna scored her 12th No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Diamonds," the diva earns her very first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

Her "Unapologetic" album opens atop the Billboard 200, selling 238,000 copies in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan. The SRP/Def Jam set is her seventh studio release in a little over seven years, and follows six earlier top 10 efforts. Rather infamously, until this week, the diva held the distinction of having the most No. 1 songs on the Hot 100 without having claimed a No. 1 album.

"Unapologetic," released on Monday, Nov. 19, also gives Rihanna her best sales week yet for an album. (The SoundScan tracking week ends at the close of business every Sunday.) The new album's arrival surpasses her previous best frame, racked when 2010's "Loud" launched at No. 3 with 207,000 copies sold.


In Other News,

New Mom Adele's mega-selling "21" album continues to rewrite the record books.


This week, the XL/Columbia release pushes past the 10 million U.S. sales mark in only its 92nd week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In doing so, "21" becomes the 21st album to shift 10 million since the firm began tracking data in 1991.

The last album to sell as many copies in a shorter span of time was 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached," which raced to 10 million in its 43rd week (January 2001). Only one album in the SoundScan era hit 10 million faster: Backstreet Boys' "Millennium," in its 39th week in February 2000.

"21" is one of only eight albums to hit the 10 million mark within two years of release (104 weeks). In addition to "21," "No Strings Attached" and "Millennium," Santana's "Supernatural" (60 weeks to 10 million), Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" (66), "The Bodyguard" soundtrack (72), Creed's "Human Clay" (93) and Shania Twain's "Come On Over" (96) all raced to the figure in under two years

Source: Billboard.com