Adele has achieved an astounding new benchmark as her ’21′ album continues to race toward diamond status in the US. The record, which has held the top slot on the Billboard 200 for 22 non-consecutive weeks, has been certified 8x platinum.

’21′ has been awarded the 8x platinum certification by the RIAA for shipments exceeding 8 million copies in the US. The record has thus far sold over 7.65 million copies at retail outlets and is on track to sell yet another 200K copies by March 5th. Additionally, ’21′ has been certified 15x platinum and sold over 4 million copies in Adele’s UK home territory.

Thus far, ’21′ has generated 3 #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 - ‘Rolling in the Deep’, ‘Someone like You’ and ‘Set Fire to the Rain’. Moreover, ‘Rolling in the Deep’ has surpassed Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ as the biggest-selling digital single by a female artist in the US history with sales exceeding 6.68 million downloads. The song is now ranked as the second most downloaded track of all time behind the Black Eyed Pears’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’, which sold 7.82 million copies via digital retailers.

The good news did not end there for Adele, though. Her debut album, ’19′, which was released in 2008, has just been certified 2x platinum in the US. Furthermore, the LP has sold over 1.99 million copies in that country.

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