Adele's new album 25 is set to break sales records on both sides of the Atlantic. Sales so far this week in the UK stand at a massive 538,000, putting it in good stead to become the UK's fastest-selling album ever. Only two albums have ever sold more than 500,000 copies in a week: Take That's Progress sold 519,000 in its debut week in November 2010 and Oasis's Be Here Now, the all-time record holder, notched up 696,000 in its first chart week in August 1997.

The album 25 has sold a record 2.3 million copies in the US in the first three days of its release. The monster sales mean Adele will break the first week sales record currently held by boy band NSync's 2000 album No Strings Attached, which opened with 2.4 million copies. The much-anticipated album has been driven by the success of its lead single, the heartbreak ballad Hello, which debuted last month and has sold more than 2.5 million digital copies.

It is increasingly rare for an artist to top the one million opening week sales with a new album because fans are driven more and more to online streaming to consume music – but that looks like it will have no effect on Adele's album, which is not available on streaming services. Taylor Swift's album 1989 was the last record to achieve the milestone when it opened with nearly 1.3 million copies in 2014.

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