Adele recorded the highest weekly sale not just of the 2010s but of all-time, when her third album, 25, sold a staggering 800,307 copies on its first week on release in 2015.

Exactly six years on, follow-up, 30, sets the pace for the 2020s, opening its account with an introductory tally of 261,856 sales – the best of the 100 weeks that have elapsed in the decade to date, surpassing the 203,909 set by ABBA’s Voyage a mere fortnight ago. ...