Just when it seemed that Adele’s ’21′ had lost momentum on the Billboard 200, the record exhibited a massive surge in popularity and achieved a new sales peak during the Christmas sales rush. However, while Adele’s ’21′ was successful on the basis of quality material, people had to be convinced to purchase Rihanna’s ‘Talk That Talk’, which reentered the top 10 of the tally only after receiving a price slash.

Holding at #2 on the Billboard 200, ’21′ sold over 399K copies during the last week and achieved a new total of 5.68 million copies. Astoundingly, ’21′ was released 44 weeks ago on February 22nd yet it surpassed its first weeks of 352K units by 47K and it is currently on track to reclaim the #1 slot for a 14th nonconsecutive frame on next week’s lineup.

Rihanna’s ‘Talk That Talk’ also rebounded on the Billboard 200 after leaping from #14 to #7. Yet, this increase was bolstered by an AmazonMP3 discount, which resulted in a 88% sales spike to 99K copies sold in the last week and a total of 472K.

Probably as an act of karma, however, Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ lost its grip of the Billboard Hot 100 #1 spot and was replaced by LMFAO’s ‘Sexy & I Know It’. ‘We Found Love’ held the peak position of the list for 8 weeks as 2011′s longest-running #1 song and Rihanna’s most successful track to date. Conversely, LMFAO’s ‘Sexy’ sold 395K downloads during the last 7 days and vastly overshadowed the 276K sold by ‘We Found Love’, despite the latter dominating the Billboard Radio Songs chart with 148 million audience impressions.

See the leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. Michael Buble – ‘Christmas’ – 467K (total: 2.43 M)

2. Adele – ’21′ – 399K (total: 5.68 M)

3. Young Jeezy - ‘TM 103: Hustlerz Ambition’ – 233K (debut)

4. Justin Bieber – ‘Under the Mistletoe’ – 225K (total: 1.23)

5. Drake – ‘Take Care’ – 131K (total: 1.17K)

6. Lady Antebellum - ‘Own the Night’ – 110K (total: 1.83M)

7. Rihanna – ‘Talk That Talk’ – 99K (total: 472K)

8. Nickleback – ‘Here & Now’ – 99K (total: 550K)

9. Black Keys – ‘El Camino’ – 92K (total: 383K)

10. Various Artists – ‘Now 40′ – 88K (total: 508K)

Billboard Hot 100

1. LMFAO – ‘Sexy & I Know It’

2. Rihanna – ‘We Found Love (Ft. Calvin Harris)’

3. Katy Perry – ‘The One That Got Away’

4. Bruno Mars – ‘It Will Rain’

5. The Throne – ‘N*ggas in Paris’

6. Flo Rida – ‘Good Feeling’

7. Adele – ‘Set Fire to the Rain’

8. Adele – ‘Someone Like You’

9. LMFAO – ‘Party Rock Anthem (Lauren Bennett & GoonRock)’

10. Big Sean – ‘Dance (A$$) (Ft. Nicki Minaj)’

Thoughts?