海角大神

Adele鈥檚 new album, 鈥�25,鈥� arrives on Nov. 20. Just how major a performer will it be in terms of sales?

Adele鈥檚 smash hit album 鈥�21,鈥� her previous work, became the highest-selling album of both 2011 and 2012 in the US. In 2011, the second-best-selling album of the year, Michael Buble鈥檚 鈥淐hristmas,鈥� sold less than half what "21" did. In 2012, Taylor Swift鈥檚 鈥淩ed鈥� wasn鈥檛 as far behind 鈥�21鈥� as Buble鈥檚 album had been, but Adele鈥檚 work still outsold Swift鈥檚 by more than a million.

So how many albums of 鈥�25鈥� will sell? are guessing 鈥�25鈥� will sell between 1.5 and 2 million albums in the first week it鈥檚 out. By comparison, other big sellers this year like Drake鈥檚 鈥淚f You鈥檙e Reading This It鈥檚 Too Late鈥� and The Weeknd鈥檚 鈥淏eauty Behind the Madness鈥� sold 495,000 copies and 326,000 copies, respectively, in their first weeks. (Another work by Drake, his collaboration with Future titled "What a Time to Be Alive," sold well in its first week also, with 334,000 albums sold in the first week.) A bit further back, 1.3 million copies of Swift鈥檚 鈥�1989鈥� sold during its first week in 2014.

Adele鈥檚 possible sales numbers are big enough that they harken back to a different music era. Some of the artists whose albums sold the most copies during their debut week are boy bands NSYNC and Backstreet Boys as well as rapper Eminem and singer Britney Spears. Their high sales figures reflect both their popularity at the time and how different music consumers鈥� choices were at the time.

NSYNC鈥檚 鈥淣o Strings Attached鈥� sold more than 2 million copies in its first week and still holds the record for the biggest release-week sales, but that was in 2000, when the music-sharing program Napster was becoming popular. The other top five best-selling release week albums all came out in 2000 and 2001. Swift鈥檚 2012 album 鈥淩ed鈥� is the highest-ranked newer album on the list, and it sold more than 1.2 million, more than a million less than NSYNC鈥檚 鈥淪trings.鈥�

Can Adele bring the early-2000s sales numbers back to the music business?聽