Adele's 21 named greatest album of all time by Billboard with 24 weeks at number one

Adele is yet to release her third LP but the singer is still breaking records with her previous album 21, which has been named the greatest album of all time by Billboard. The Hello singer has managed to trump The Beatles on the album list, although the legendary British band have been named the top artist of all time.

The Grammy-winner, who is set to release her new record 25 on 20 November, enjoyed 24 weeks at number one with her second album, which has so far spent 245 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart since its release on 12 March 2011. In addition to claiming 78 consecutive weeks in the top 10, 21 earned Adele the accolade of the most weeks at number one for a female artist.

Coincidental given the impending release of 25, Adele told Billboard in 2011: "I'm just going to lay some concrete, set up home and just 'be' for a bit. I'll disappear and come back with a record [when it's] good enough. There will be no new music until it's good enough and until I'm ready."

The album 21 spawned the singles Someone Like You and Rolling In The Deep and earned the now 27-year-old singer the album of the year and best pop vocal album Grammy awards.

Listen to Adele's new single Hello:

In second place on Billboard's list is The Sound Of Music soundtrack, which was recorded by actress Julie Andrews in 1965. The album, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015, spent two weeks at number one and 109 weeks in the top 10. Andrews told Billboard of the film's success: "I don't think I could have possibly guessed, ever, that it was going to be iconic as it has become. If anyone had told me that 50 years after the fact I'd be still speaking to you about it and its magic, I could not have anticipated that or believed it."

While they lost out to Adele on the album list, The Beatles have been named the top artist of all time, thanks to their 19 number one LPs, which spent an accumulative 132 weeks at the top, led by Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band spending 15 weeks consecutively at number one in 1967.

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