That’s a lot of car stereos blasting sad ballads: according to a press release from Columbia Records, Adele’s album 21, buoyed by hits including “Someone Like You” and “Rolling in the Deep,” has been certified diamond by the recording industry, meaning that it’s sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S.
Prior to the release of 21, the most recently-released album to go Diamond was Usher’s Confessions, which dropped in 2004. Among the very few artists with recent Diamond albums: Britney Spears (Oops!… I Did It Again), Eminem (The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show) and Norah Jones (Come Away With Me). That last album’s similar success was tied, as was Adele’s, to fans among older music-buyers: though present-day versions of young Eminem and young Brit haven’t been able to move records, mom and dad don’t know how to torrent music.
