Music

The 'Rumour Has It' singer is close to tie the record held by Prince, who scored 24th week on the chart with the 'Purple Rain' soundtrack.

• Mar 8, 2012

AceShowbiz - Adele shows no sign of stepping down from the throne on Billboard Hot 200. The 23-year-old British beauty extends her long-running reign at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart for another week as her album "21" shifts another 247,000 copies, which is more than any other album this week.

It becomes the longest No. 1 run for a female artist, surpassing the record held by Whitney Houston who hit 20-week No. 1 run with "The Bodyguard" soundtrack. It's additionally close to tie the mark scored by Prince & the Revolution's 1984 "Purple Rain" album (24 weeks at No. 1).

On top of that, the "Set Fire to the Rain" crooner marks her tenth consecutive week at No. 1 for "21". It's the longest one since the "Titanic" soundtrack album, which was led by Celine Dion's ballad epic "My Heart Will Go On", clocked a 14 straight-weeks at the top spot on the list in 1998.

Other highlights in the chart are Whitney Houston and Kid Cudi. The former occupies three spots on the top 10 list with the highest one, "The Greatest Hits", sitting at No. 2. She becomes the first female artist who places three albums in list at the same time.

The latter, meanwhile, become the artist with the highest new entry of this week. Despite his complaint that his label didn't put enough CDs on the shelves, the rapper bows high at the third position. He rounds up the top 3 list with his rock-themed project with Dot Da Genius, "WZRD", which sells 66,000.

The race to the No. 1 position next week will be between Adele and Bruce Springsteen. Both of them are predicted to sell around 200,000 copies with their respective albums. The Boss has just released a new studio effort called "Wrecking Ball".

Billboard Hot 200:

1. "21" - Adele (247,000)
2. "The Greatest Hits" - Whitney Houston (112,000)
3. "WZRD" - Kid Cudi (66,000)
4. "Now 41" Compilation - Various Artist (46,000)
5. "The Bodyguard" Soundtrack - Whitney Houston/Various Artists (43,000)
6. "Careless World: Rise of the Last King" - Tyga (37,000)
7. "19" - Adele (37,000)
8. "Take Care" - Drake (29,000)
9. "Talk That Talk" - Rihanna (25,000)
10. "Whitney Houston" - Whitney Houston (25,000)