LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three new albums and fans of the late Whitney Houston were unable to oust Adele from her top spot on the Billboard 200 chart on Wednesday, as the British singer notched a 22nd week at No. 1 with her Grammy-winning record "21." The multi-platinum "21" has sold more than 7.6 million copies in the U.S. since its release in February 2012 and continued strong sales with 296,000 copies snapped up by listeners last week. The last album to sit at No. 1 for more than 22 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart was Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain," which topped the chart between 1984 and 1985. The highest new entry came from New York alternative-pop band Fun., whose sophomore album "Some Nights" debuted at No. 3, selling 69,000 copies in its first week. The band also scored the No. 1 spot on the digital songs chart with "We Are Young" featuring Janelle Monae , which was featured in a Chevrolet commercial during th...

Not unexpectedly, Adele 's "21" album spends a 22nd week atop the Billboard 200 chart, selling 297,000 (down 59%) according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's now the longest-running No. 1 since Prince & the Revolution 's "Purple Rain" soundtrack scored 24 weeks at No. 1 in 1984 and 1985. This is also "21's" ninth consecutive week at No. 1 -- the most in-a-row frames at No. 1 since the "Titanic" soundtrack racked 14-straight in 1998. "21" -- released just over a year ago in the U.S. -- has now sold 7.65 million in the U.S. Of that figure, 1.83 million were shifted in 2012. Adele has a second album in the top 10 this week, as her first set, "19," descends 4-7 with 39,000 (down 56%). As this week's sales charts reflect the week (ending Feb. 26) following the busy Grammy Awards-fueled frame (ending Feb. 19), we see a lot of albums collapse in sales after a fast rise last week. Like the two Adele albums or the Civi...

Sales of Adele's 21 have overtaken Michael Jackson's Bad in the UK, says the Official Charts Company. The singer's latest album has now sold 4.02 million copies, nearly 61,000 more than Jackson's 1987 album. Adele broke the record after her Brits performance with 21 going back to number one for a 21st week. "This is another incredible achievement to cap a year of incredible achievements," said Martin Talbot from the Official Charts Company. "By overtaking Bad, 21 has officially cemented Adele's place among the all-time greats. "Who would bet against her improving further on that achievement, by taking steps towards the all-time top five?" Adele's album 21 has now spent 57 weeks on the Official Albums Chart and has not left the top 10 since its release last January. It is now the biggest selling album of the 21st Century and the eighth biggest selling album of all time. Next in line on the list is Pink Floyd's 1973 album Dark Side Of...

Adele's latest album was based on her drunken diary entries. The 'Someone Like You' hitmaker penned '21' in the aftermath of a relationship ending and she admits most of her lyrics came from the emotional outpourings contained in her journal. She explained: 'I started drinking again. I'd been off it for six months but once I started I'd get drunk and end up admitting things to myself in my diary. 'Later, when I was sober, I'd read through it all. The songs, the emotions, were all in there.' Despite the critical acclaim and awards success Adele has received for '21', she insists she doesn't want it to be the album which defines her career because she feels she still has a lot to offer and wants to be able to try different things with her music. She added in an interview with the new edition of Q magazine: 'The funny thing is I still don't know what my sound is. I mean, it's only my second album. 'I want my defining ...

Published: 6:40AM Wednesday February 29, 2012 Source: BANG Showbiz Source: Reuters Related Network sorry for cutting off Adele Adele adds two Brits to award collection Adele plans a break to marry, have kids, plant garden Adele's boyfriend is planning to propose on her birthday. The Someone Like You hitmaker has been dating Simon Konecki since just before Christmas 2011, but the divorced charity director is so smitten with his new girlfriend, he is putting together plans to take her away in early May and ask her to marry him. A friend told heat magazine: "After Simon divorced, he never imagined that he'd fine love like this again and be so happy. "He told her he loved her after just a week and now they say it 10 times a day. Simon knows he wants to propose and hopes to do it on her birthday, which falls on a holiday weekend in May. He wants to take her abroad and do it properly - it now all depends on her schedule." Simon - who has a five-year-old daughter - ha...

Adele is being lined up to perform at the closing ceremony of the Olympics. The 'Rolling in the Deep' hitmaker - who won six Grammys and two BRITs earlier this year - is among a host of stars who have been approached, according to music director David Arnold who has promised the London event will feature lots of "fabulous" British music. He said: "Without saying we have booked anyone, it goes from Elgar to Adele. It is not just a pop concert, it is not just a classical rendition. It will be everything that we think is fabulous about British music." It is believed the London Symphony Orchestra will provide musical backing to the performers. Previous acts suggested for the big event include Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and the Spice Girls - although the girl group have since denied they will be taking part. All those who are taking part will be paid just 1 to make their contracts legally binding, according to costume designer Es Devlin. She said: "T...

The BRIT Awards effect showed itself on the new U.K. sales charts Feb. 26 for a number of artists including Ed Sheeran , Coldplay , Florence + The Machine and, more than anyone, Adele . "21" is back at the top of the album list for the 21st aggregate week after her double win at last Tuesday's (Feb. 21) ceremony, which helped push its British sales past four million, in the same week that its predecessor "19" moved beyond two million. Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know," featuring Kimbra, returned to the singles summit as its sales neared 400,000, according to the Official Charts Company. BRIT Awards: Adele, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay Win Big "21," which climbed back 3-1 on a sales upswing of 37%, has remained in the U.K. top ten throughout its entire 57-week chart span, and Adele's success also generated new sales for its singles "Rolling In The Deep" (up 39-28), "Someone Like You" (41-32) and "Set Fire To The...

British songstress Adele has equalled Delta Goodrem's record for the longest chart-topping album in Australia this century with her ten-times platinum 21. The Grammy Award winner marks her 29th non-consecutive week at number one, matching Goodrem's run with Innocent Eyes in 2003. She now sits well ahead of John Farnham's Whispering Jack, which accrued 25 weeks in the top spot. Meanwhile, sales have continued to soar for the late Whitney Houston, with three of her best-of albums now sitting inside the ARIA top 10. Houston's The Ultimate Collection (2007) shot up from 12th spot to three this week, ahead of her 2011 album The Essential in seventh position - up from number 20 - and The Greatest Hits at 10. Old-timer Rod Stewart has also peaked at number five on the albums chart with Storyteller: The Complete Anthology 1964-1990, nearly a month after its release. Meanwhile, the ARIA singles chart has welcomed four new tracks into the top 10, including Qwote's Throw Your ...

Adele Contributed FOLLOWING an incredible six wins and an awe-inspiring performance at the Grammy Awards last week, Adele returns to the ARIA Album Chart peak for a fifth instalment, with her worldwide smash 21. Claiming a 28th non-consecutive week at the top, Adele is now just one week shy of Delta Goodrem's record for the longest chart-topping run this century, which she achieved with Innocent Eyes in 2003. Flo Rida holds at the ARIA Singles Chart summit for a fifth consecutive week with Wild Ones featuring Sia, the hit summer anthem becoming Flo Rida's longest unbroken number-one run to date. Exploding from No.17 to 2 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and securing their second Australian top 10 single, is Gym Class Heroes with Ass Back Home featuring Neon Hitch. The band's first top 10 single, Stereo Hearts, accrued triple platinum status and peaked at No.4 late last year. I Will Always Love You, the iconic former chart-topper from Whitney Houston, revisits the top 40 in the we...

Adele has continued to make headlines for her sophomore album "21," breaking two Billboard records this week. Photos: Grammy Awards 2012: Arrivals Grammy Awards 2012: Best Moments Stories: Adele gives the middle finger at Brit Music Awards Adele responds to Karl Lagerfeld's 'too fat' comment Grammy Awards 2012: Check out the full list of winners The 23-year-old British pop singer's album had its best sales week yet, selling 730,000 copies following her Grammy wins and return to the Billboard Hot 100's single chart according to Billboard . The album a! lso spen t 21 weeks in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, beating out Whitney Houston's soundtrack for "The Bodyguard," for the honor of "longest command for an album by a woman in the chart's 56-year history." Adele is also the "first woman in the Hot 100's 53-year archives to place three songs in the top 10 concurrently as a lead artist." Previous artists to have...

Enlarge Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images Adele Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images Adele Pop singer Adele won six Grammy Awards last week and since then has sold close to 750,000 copies of her album 21 . People are very excited about this music and I can appreciate why. She nails it like a gymnast on a landing. She gives us what we want to hear. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just right. Music is a lot like clothing. We like our jeans pre-worn. When it comes to music, we like the familiar un familiar. That is, we like things we've never heard before that sound like things we have heard before. If the music is too familiar, it's dull. But if it is genuinely new, if it really is novel, then it is obnoxious. We are attracted to music in the Goldilocks Zone, as it has been called. And it is this that explains a familiar but nonetheless remarkable fact about musical style, namely, that styles change , and that, therefore, music has a history. You can tell where and when a song was writ...

As reported yesterday, Adele 's sophomore album "21" marks multiple new milestones on the Billboard 200 . Most notably, "21" registered its best sales week (730,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan), following her six wins at the 54th Grammy Awards on Feb. 12. The set also logs a 21st week at No. 1 on the survey, pushing it past Whitney Houston 's soundtrack to "The Bodyguard" (1992-93) for the longest command for an album by a woman in the chart's 56-year history. Add in Adele's action on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart this week, however, and there's even more history to add to her quickly building legend. Adele's three former Hot 100 No. 1s bulleted into the Hot 100's top 10 : "Set Fire to the Rain" holds at No. 2; "Rolling in the Deep," the record and song of the year, which Adele performed at the Grammys, charges back 17-5 (in its 59th chart week); and, "Someone Like You" jumps 11-7. With...

23 February 2012 Last updated at 08:02 ET Oh, what a knight: Sir George rode to Adele's defence in the Commons The leader of the House of Commons has said he was "disappointed" that singer Adele's acceptance speech was cut short at the Brit Awards. She had just been handed best album prize when she was told to stop speaking on Tuesday night because the awards ceremony was behind schedule. She has since attacked record industry "suits" for the perceived slight. Sir George Young told MPs he "shared" Adele's unhappiness over the affair but congratulated her on her achievement. Broadcaster ITV said it had received scores of complaints about Tuesday's Brits broadcast, in which Adele's acceptance speech - near the end of the show - was cut short by host James Corden. 'The suits' This was in order for Blur, the winners of a lifetime achievement gong, to perform the finale. The channel has since apologised to the singer, who left the ...

Like many artists before her, global pop star Adele experienced a post- Grammys album sales boost, selling 730,000 copies of 21 in the past week. Unlike every other artist in history, however, Adele is the first person to sell 2 million copies of one album on iTunes in the U.S. [More from Mashable : PlayStation Vita: 15 Games You Can Play at Launch ] The album, which has been out stateside since Feb. 22 of last year, reached double platinum status on the heels of Adele's Grammy appearance: She won six awards and performed for the first time since being sidelined by vocal cord hemorrhaging and subsequent microsurgery. SEE ALSO: Adele Finds Her Voice on Twitter | Are Artists Luring Grammy Votes Via Social Media? [More from Mashable: Mass Effect 3 Is Launching Into Space Literally ] The new figures , posted on the Columbia Records Tumblr blog Wednesday, mark the biggest sales week for 21 . The album has hit number one on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart 21 times and has so...

The widow of country music legend Roger Miller doesn't own the rights to some of his biggest hits, including "King of the Road," a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Adele's momentum is showing no signs of slowing. After winning six Grammy Awards and taking the top prize at the Brit Awards , the young soulful star bested a chart record set by another vocal powerhouse, the late Whitney Houston . Adele's "21" coasted to another week at the top of the pop charts, giving it 21 nonconsecutive weeks in the pole position. That's the most by any album in the modern sales era. Buoyed by her Grammy wins and return to the stage after vocal cord surgery, "21" sold a mighty 730,000 copies in the United Statesfor the week beginning Feb. 13, according to Nielsen SoundScan stats released by Billboard . The tally gives Adele her best sales week. The album, which has now remained in the top-10 for one full year, has sold more than 7.3 million copies. With another week at No. 1, Adele has bested a chart record set by the Houston-led soundtrack to "The Bodyguard,"the Grammy album-of-the-year winner for 1992. SoundScan began ...

21 February 2012 Last updated at 20:03 ET Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Winners at the Brit Awards included Adele, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay Adele has won two prizes at the Brit Awards ceremony in London, but was at the centre of controversy after one of her acceptance speeches was cut short. Her speech was halted after she picked up the prize for best British album. She also won best British female. "I flung the middle finger. That was for the suits at the Brit Awards, not my fans. I'm sorry if I offended anyone but the suits offended me," she said. Ed Sheeran also won two awards - best British male and British breakthrough. Coldplay were crowned best British group for a record third time, while former X Factor boy band One Direction beat Adele to the award for best British single. Adele added her Brits to the six Grammy Awards she won last weekend, capping a year of huge global success. According to her record label, the London singer...

LONDON (AP) Soulful songstress Adele followed Grammy Awards triumph with a win at the U.K.'s Brit music awards Tuesday, taking the prize for best British female artist at an energetic ceremony in London . Adele, who won six Grammys last week in Los Angeles for her sophomore album "21," beat an eclectic shortlist of female stars that also included Florence and the Machine , Jessie J, Laura Marling and Kate Bush. "It's been an amazing year," Adele said as she received the statuette from petite pop star Kylie Minogue . "I feel like a drag queen next to you," joked Adele, who wore a sleek black Burberry gown for the ceremony. She thanked her record company "for letting me be the kind of artist I want to be." The 23-year-old singer lost out on the British single prize to boy band One Direction. Adele also is nominated for British album of the year. Adele, who gave a show-stopping performance of "Someone Like You" at last year...

LONDON (AP) Soulful songstress Adele and tousle-haired singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran lead the race for the U.K.'s Brit music awards ahead of Tuesday's ceremony in London. Twenty one-year-old Sheeran has four nominations including breakthrough act, best British album, for his debut "+," best single for "The A Team" and best British male solo act. He's up against James Blake , James Morrison , Noel Gallagher 's High Flying Birds and Professor Green in that category. Adele, who won six Grammys last week in Los Angeles for her sophomore album "21," is nominated for three Brits British album, British single for "Someone Like You" and British female artist, an eclectic category that also includes Florence and the Machine, Jessie J, Laura Marling and Kate Bush, who won the same prize 25 years ago. Adele, who gave a show-stopping performance of "Someone Like You" at last year's Brits, is also due to perform for the fir...

Singer Adele is set to dominate The Brit awards following her recent success at the Grammys. The south London songstress, who won six awards in America, is nominated in three categories - best single, album of the year and best female. Jessie J, also nominated for three, is a contender in the best female category. She told Sky News she will still be supporting her fellow Brit school graduate this evening at the O2. Jessie J said: 'I'd much rather be up against someone I respect, love their music. I've seen her work so hard this year and if she wins I'll be standing on my chair cheering.' Ed Sheeran tops the Brit nominations with four and said he is stunned to have been recognised so quickly. He said: 'Tinie Tempah actually came up to me at the Brits (last year) and said you'll be cleaning up next year and I thought he was mad. 'I thought the next year, give me time to set it up and I'll come back in 2013, so to be here now it's lovely.' The M...

Its no secret that Adele is totally loved up with her man Simon Konecki, but if rumours are true, things could be about to get a whole lot more serious. Sources have told The Daily Star that Simon is considering proposing to Adele on her 24th birthday in May! Theyve spoken about their future plans, how they want to buy a huge house in the country and have two or three kids, says the friend. Simon is so smitten that hes also talked about popping the question as soon as her birthday in May. It falls over the bank holiday weekend so he may plan a trip away and do it then. Theres one small problem though this source is kinda ruining the surprise if thats the case He knows shes the one and Simons pals have never seen him so happy. Hes like a different person. It seems like Adele feels exactly the same way, apparently calling him her soulmate . Another friend says, She said how she felt like she was living a dream. And she just kept gushing about this being the best relationship she...

Adele says she'll always have a ''soft spot'' for the BRIT Awards, after her performance of 'Someone Like You' at last year's ceremony. Adele says she'll always have a ''soft spot'' for the BRIT Awards. The 23-year-old singer - who picked up six Grammys last week - is up for British Female Solo Artist, British Single for 'Someone Like You' and Mastercard British Album of the Year for '21' at the glamorous event tomorrow (21.02.12) and despite all her success recently, she says the awards mean a great deal to her. Adele - who wowed the world with her performance of 'Someone Like You' at last year's ceremony - said: ''I have a soft spot for The BRITs, but this year feels really special since last year it kick-started my album into what it's become. What a beautiful way to celebrate!'' Following her performance of 'Someone Like You' the song went straight to Number One in the UK, ma...

Adele's father says he regrets his shortcomings as a dad but is still immensely proud of his daughter's success. ADVERTISEMENT Mark Evans skipped out on 2-year-old Adele and her young mom amid his own struggles with alcohol abuse and was devastated when Adele said in a Vogue magazine interview she would "spit in his face" if they ever met again. "There's so much regret on my part," said Evans, who lives in Wales. "I let her down badly, and I wish I could turn the clock back and do things differently." Evans told Wales Online he had spoken to his daughter on occasion and their relationship seemed to be cordial. The last time he saw her was when she visited her grandmother in Penarth, Wales in 2011 and they had a cup of tea together. "She didn't talk about her career much, she just said life was going well and she was happy," he recalled. Evans said he had wanted to marry Adele's mom after she was born; however she felt they wer...

Adele gets stomach cramps on the red carpet because she gets so nervous. Although she was the main attraction at the Grammy Awards last Sunday (12.02.12), leaving the ceremony with six prizes, the 23-year-old singer doesn't enjoy attending glitzy events because all the attention freaks her out. She revealed: 'I hate the red carpet. I don't feel insecure, I just feel like, 'Oh, I don't want to do this.' I literally get a stomach cramp. At the VMAs last year I felt really out of my comfort zone because there were so many superstars there. But that's been the case from day one. I never feel like, 'Oh, yeah, I should be here.' And I was missing my best friend's hen night. So I was a bit bitter that I wasn't there, to be perfectly honest.' However, being invited to A-list events does have some perks for Adele. One thing the 'Rolling in the Deep' hitmaker remembers vividly is meeting her biggest musical idol Beyonce Knowles. Adele - who...

Adele cradles the six awards she won at the 54th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 12, 2012. UPI/Jayne Kamin-Oncea Published: Feb. 18, 2012 at 2:54 PM PENARTH, Wales, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The father of British pop star Adele says he regrets his shortcomings as a dad but is still immensely proud of his daughter's success. Mark Evans skipped out on 2-year-old Adele and her young mom amid his own struggles with alcohol abuse and was devastated when Adele said in a Vogue magazine interview she would "spit in his face" if they ever met again. "There's so much regret on my part," said Evans, who lives in Wales. "I let her down badly, and I wish I could turn the clock back and do things differently." Evans told Wales Online he had spoken to his daughter on occasion and their relationship seemed to be cordial. The last time he saw her was when she visited her grandmother in Penarth, Wales in 2011 and they had a cup of tea t...

Early talent: Four-year-old Adele Adkins with her first guitar. She is now a global superstar As the applause rang out at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last weekend, musical megastar Adele stepped up tearfully to the microphone and paid a moving tribute to her mother. I just want to say, Mum, your girl did good! the 23-year-old singer told the world in typically down-to-earth fashion after winning a plethora of awards. She was referring, of course, to 43-year-old Penny Adkins, the woman who was just 18 when she became pregnant with Adele and single-handedly brought up the child who would become a global superstar. Of her father, tellingly, Adele made no mention. Mark Evans was watching television in the sitting room of his small home on a housing estate in Bridgend, South Wales, as his daughter revelled in the awards being showered upon her thousands of miles away. The sight of Adele dressed to the nines in a Giorgio Armani dress receiving a standing ovation from some of the biggest...

Public Ooh la la? More like uh-oh. Adele has enlisted a team of power lawyers to launch legal action against a French tabloid that published photos allegedly from a leaked sex tape featuring the British Grammy magnet with the ex-boyfriend who inspired her greatest hits . Problem is, it wasn't her. Just, um, someone like her. MORE: Is Adele really going on a five-year hiatus?! Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player . The 23-year-old wasted no time in hiring Schillings law firm, the U.K.'s go-to solicitors-to-the-stars, as the first step to filing suit against France's Public magazine for publishing both the images, taken from a smartphone, and the accompanying front-page false claims. On the cover of the tabloid rag, out today, the headlines blares, "Exclusif! Adele La sex tape!" with a screengrab of a woman who, on even the most cursory of inspections, doesn't come close to res...

British singer immediately rubbished reports that she appears in images Hoax is latest in line of fake celebrity sex tapes Comes days after she scooped six Grammy Awards By Peter Allen Last updated at 3:54 PM on 17th February 2012 Adele is set to sue a French magazine after it published fake photos it claimed came from a sex tape starring the award-winning star. The 23-year-old immediately rubbished reports that it was her in the images, which 'Public' claimed came from footage taken on a smartphone and printed on its front page today. It comes just days after the Someone Like You singer scooped six Grammy Awards in Los Angeles and is likely to leave her legions of loyal fans shocked. Claims: Fake photos of Adele are in the latest edition of Public magazine Adele's lawyers Schillings is now launching legal action against the French publication, which claims to have more than three million readers each week. A statement sent to MailOnline said: 'We are informed that the ...

Adele has moved into a 7 million mansion. The 23-year-old singer - who was raised in a small London apartment by her mother Penny Adkins - is paying around 15,000 a month in rent for the 10-bedroom Grade II listed property in Sussex, South East England. Despite admitting she is likely to keep nine bedrooms unused, Adele loves the property because it allows her to escape her fame. She told '60 Minutes' host Anderson Cooper: 'This is just safety, this house.' The huge estate is set in 25 acres of land and boasts two swimming pools, tennis court, helicopter landing pad and a separate cottage for staff. The house - which is just 30 minutes away from Adele's boyfriend Simon Konecki's home in Brighton - was briefly used as a convent in the 1970s, when it was extended to include a private chapel and nuns quarters. During her '60 minutes' interview, Adele recalled how she struggled when she first moved out of home - and decided to move back in with her mother. S...

A dele 's "21" album is going to celebrate its first year on the Billboard 200 chart in grand style. Fresh off her six Grammy Award wins on Sunday (Feb. 12) night, "21" is on course to sell between 500,000 to 600,000 copies by week's end on Sunday, Feb. 19. Adele's '21' Hits 20th Week at No. 1, Van Halen at No. 2 Next week will mark the set's 52nd week on the list and it should easily rack up a 21st frame at No. 1. It could earn the biggest sales week for any album since Drake's "Take Care" debuted with 631,000 on the chart dated Dec. 3, 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan. Even better - it will be "21's" biggest sales week, period. It's highest week came over the Christmas holiday, when it shifted 399,000. Adele's first album, "19," is also selling well, and should move into the top five on the Billboard 200 next week. The last act to have two albums in the top five at the same time was Justi...

Adele's "21" has now spent 51 weeks in the top 10 on the U.S. pop chart, but it still, apparently, has room to grow. Buoyed by her multiple Grammy wins Sunday night and return to the stage after vocal cord surgery, "21" holds its grip on the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop charts, selling an additional 237,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, With sales up 95%, Adeleout-sells Van Halen's first full-length with David Lee Roth since 1984. Adele's album has now spent a total of 20 weeks at No. 1, giving it the longest run at the top spot since Whitney Houston's soundtrack to "The Bodyguard" racked up 20 weeks in the pole position beginning in late 1992. SoundScan tracks sales through Sunday evening, so the full effect of the Grammy Awards won't be evident until next week's charts are revealed. Already, however, "21" has now sold more than 6.6 million copies. While the Grammys celebrated the return of one signature voice, t...