Adele's '21' Ties Beatles, Madonna U.K. Album Charts Record

Adele's epic reign on the U.K. sales charts strengthened again yesterday (Mar. 27), as her "21" album (XL) started a ninth week at No. 1 and its single "Someone Like You" climbed back to the top, 2-1, giving it five of the last six weeks at the summit.

It's just over ten years since any album spent nine weeks in a row at No. 1 in the U.K.; the Beatles' "1" compilation achieved the feat from November 2000 to January 2001. "21" is the first album by a solo female to spend this long at the U.K. peak since Madonna's "The Immaculate Collection" exactly ten years before that, from November 1990 to January 1991.

"21" sold another 156,000 copies last week, according to the Official Charts Company, to take its total sales to Saturday night (26) to 1,496,588. "Someone Like You" sold a further 82,000 units and Adele's first album "19" another 47,000, to post another week at No. 2.

The Strokes' new album "Angles" (Rough Trade) debuted at No. 3, selling 35,000 units. There were also top ten debuts for "When Ronan Met Burt" (Polydor), the collaboration between Irish singer Ronan Keating and songwriting giant Burt Bacharach, at No. 5; Nicole Scherzinger's "Killer Love" (Interscope/Universal) at No. 8 (containing last week's No. 1 single "Don't Hold Your Breath," now down into runner-up spot); and Chris Brown's "F.A.M.E." (Jive/Sony Music Entertainment) at No. 10.

Arriving inside the album top 20 were Duran Duran's "All You Need Is Now" (Tape Modern/Edel) at No. 11, blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa's "Dust Bowl" (Provogue) at a U.K. career-best No. 12, Green Day's live set "Awesome As F**k" (Reprise/Warner Music) at No. 14, and "Up On The Roof - The Very Best of the Drifters" (Rhino/Sony Music Entertainment) at No. 17. "Massive R&B - Spring 2011" (Rhino/UMTV) started a second week atop the compilation chart.

The singles chart also registered a 15-3 rise for Black Eyed Peas' "Just Can't Get Enough" (Interscope/Universal) and a No. 11 debut for the Comic Relief charity fundraiser "I Know Him So Well" (Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment) by comedian Peter Kay and Susan Boyle.

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