Everybody expected Adele’s new album to break records, but not this quickly! Nielsen Music, the organisation which tracks record sales in the U.S., reports that 25 has sold 2.3 million copies in just three days and is on course to break the record for first-week sales.

As reported by Billboard, Adele’s long-awaited third album is just short of the current record set by N*SYNC’s No Strings Attached, which sold 2.4 million copies in its first week in 2000, at the height of the CD era. In 2015, amid falling physical sales, the 2.3 million figure for Adele is astonishing.

AdeleAs expected, Adele's third album is breaking chart records in its first week on sale

Put in perspective, only three albums have managed to sell as many as one million copies all year – Taylor Swift’s 1989, Ed Sheeran’s X (both of which were released in 2014) and Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, which came out in January. Adele’s record has already shifted more than double that, and it’s only been on sale since Friday (November 20th).

It has also sold four times the amount that Justin Bieber’s Purpose managed last week, whose 522,000 units constituted the biggest first-week sales figure in 2015 so far. Not for much longer.

More: Adele wants to work with Drake on a remix of ‘Hotline Bling’

With the tracking week in question ending on November 26th, it still has four more days to be taken into account since this initial report. Of course, Adele last week announced that 25 wouldn’t be available to stream anywhere online, forcing the curious to part with their money to hear it.

“There isn't anybody that I've talked to in the music business who hasn't been astonished by these numbers,” said Nielsen’s senior vice president for industry insights Dave Bakula in a reaction to the Associated Press.

The British singer’s sophomore effort 21, which made her an international superstar and has sold more than 11 million copies in the U.S. since 2011, also received a sales boost in the wake of 25’s massive attraction. It has reportedly sold an additional 13,000 copies, which should comfortably see it re-enter the Top 20.

More: Adele’s ‘25’ will not be available to stream