Adele ruled the charts for the second year in a row. The British singer’s “21” was the highest selling album in the United States for the second consecutive year, according to the 2012 sales figures released by Nielsen SoundScan on Thursday. A first in SoundScan history.

On top of the album going diamond, Adele sold 4.4 million copies of the album in 2012 after selling 5.8 million in 2011. She crossed the the 10 million mark in November and was only rivaled by Taylor Swift’s “Red” album, which was second on the list. If Adele’s album sells continue to increase, “21” will move into the top 10 list for sales since 1993, when SoundScan began current tracking methods.

Gotye earned the year’s top-selling song with “Somebody That I Used To Know” featuring Kimbra. The song was downloaded a record 6.8 million times  Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” landed in the second spot with 6.5 million downloads. Both songs are the first to cross the 6 million digital sales mark. Group fun came close with 5.9 million downloads of Janelle Monae featured “We Are Young”.

A record 1.65 billion music units, combination of physical albums and digital albums and digital songs, were sold in 2012, fueled by an increase in 9.1 percent in total digital sales and a 14.1 percent increase in digital album sales.

Shanika Simmons 

The post Adele’s “21” Ranks High On The Charts Two Years In A Row appeared first on Entertain Train.

Billboard names Adele their top Artist of 2012. This comes to no surprise with the giant success of her latest album 21 that recently went diamond.

On Friday, Billboard said that Adele is the year’s biggest artist as well as her Diamond selling album as the Album of the year. Adele is no stranger to these titles, as she held the award last year.

According to Billboard, the top three songs of the year are “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe”, and “We Are Young” by fun.

Adele also takes the plaque for top female artist of the year, while Drake grabs the title for top male artist. One Direction is the top new artist and Maroon 5 is the year’s top group.

This has definitely been a fascinating year for Adele musically and personally. Along with the mass success of her album 21, the British singer is expecting a baby boy early next year!

Shanika Simmons 

The post Adele is Billboard’s Artist of the Year appeared first on Entertain Train.