NEW YORK: Adele's new album 25 has sold over 2.3 million copies in the United States alone during its first three days on the market, a stunning number for a music industry that has seen sales steadily fall in the digital era.

To put that into perspective, only Taylor Swift’s 1989, (released late last year) Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (released in April) and Ed Sheeran’s x (in June 2014) have sold as much as one million copies all year so far. Adele’s disc went on sale on November 20.

Nielsen Music said on November 23 that Adele will almost certainly break the one-week record for album sales, set by NSYNC in 2000 with 2.4 million for No Strings Attached. “There isn’t anybody I’ve talked to in music business who hasn’t been astonished by these numbers,” said Dave Bakula, senior vice president at Nielsen.

Adele's previous album, 2011’s 21, has sold 11.24 million copies in the United States; it’s likely many of the people who sought out the new one this weekend haven’t bought an album since.