Adele, Def Jam Records are having the best week ever

It’s official. Adele has broken the single-week U.S. album sales record with her latest chart-topper “25,” according to Nielsen Music.

Adele’s highly anticipated album, which the singer withheld from streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify, has already sold more than 2.4 million copies in a little over three days.

That makes it by far the fastest-selling album in a decade and a half, and puts it on pace to surpass the longtime record holder, boy band ‘NSync’s album “No Strings Attached,” which sold 2.4 million in 2000 during its first week of release.

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Released Nov. 20 through XL/Columbia Records, industry forecasters have projected the album might move close to 2.9 million copies in its first week (the sales-tracking week closes on Thursday).

Adele’s album quickly usurped Taylor Swift’s massive “1989,” which moved 1.29 million in its first week and became the fastest-selling album in more than a decade.

“When Taylor Swift did 1.3 million last year, people looked at that and said, ‘Wow, how can something like that happen in this day and age?’” David Bakula, Nielsen Entertainment’s senior vice president of industry insights, told The Times on Monday. “Adele’s album is not just slipping by ‘NSync’s record, it’s going to destroy it.”

Adele isn’t the only one making it rain on the charts — and breaking records in the process.

Def Jam Records logged an impressive record for a label, with albums from Justin Bieber, Logic, Jeezy and Alessia Cara — all released Nov. 13 — landing in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 including three in the top five spots.

Def Jam’s chart dominance was led by Bieber’s big comeback record, “Purpose.”

“Purpose” sold 522,000 copies in its first week, a sales record that Adele crushed a few days later with behemoth sales of her own comeback record.

Bieber’s album, which critics have widely lauded, also shattered Spotify’s global record for most streams in the first week of an album’s release after logging 205-million streams across the globe, according to Nielsen Music.

The embattled pop singer also broke another record with “Purpose,” one that’s a bit more difficult to top: having the most songs in the Hot 100 in a single week. He notched 17 tracks, topping the record of 14 songs previously held by the Beatles back in 1964 and Drake, who did it twice this year.

Logic’s sophomore effort, “The Incredible True Story,” debuted at No. 3 and Jeezy’s “Church In These Streets” landed at No. 4. “Know It All,” the debut from rising Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara entered at No. 9.

”While these artists occupy very different lanes, they share something in common: great artistry and creativity,” Def Jam CEO Steve Bartels said in a statement. “Nurtured through the A&R process, focused and amplified through the marketing and promotion of these projects, each one of these artists has been delivered with success.”

The last time a label notched three out of the top four positions on the Billboard 200 was Columbia Records in June 2012.

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