Emeli overtakes Adele to score biggest selling album of 2012 so far

According to the latest Official Charts Company sales data, Emeli Sande’s debut album, Our Version Of Events, has now overtaken Adele’s 21 to become the biggest selling album of 2012 so far.

Despite being released in January 2011, Adele’s second studio album has dominated this year’s Official Albums Charts, but as of midnight last night (Thursday, August 30) it now trails Our Version Of Events by 3,200 copies in year-to-date sales. 

2012 has been an incredible year for Emeli; the 25 year-old Aberdeenshire singer-songwriter, who gave up a promising career in medicine to follow her dream of becoming a musician, won the prestigious Critics’ Choice Award at this year’s BRIT Awards, and was invited to perform at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Her debut album has now sold over 659,800 copies since its release at the end of February, with sales increasing by 33.3% month-on-month since the start of the Olympic Games.

“At a time when it is as hard as ever for new artists to break through, it is fantastic that Emeli Sande now has the official biggest selling album of 2012 so far,” comments Martin Talbot, the Official Charts Company’s managing director. “It is also apt that Emeli (who won the BRITs Critics’ Choice Award in February) should take over from the inaugural BRITs Critics’ Choice Award winner, Adele. Yet another British female singing star has been born!”

Our Version Of Events still has a long way to go before eclipsing 21’s total sales, however. Since its release, 21 has sold 4.4 million copies in the UK, making it the fifth biggest-selling album of all-time, selling more copies than Michael Jackson’s iconic Bad and Thriller albums, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon and Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms in the UK. An estimated one in six British households owns 21.

The Official Top 5 Biggest Selling Albums Of 2012 So Far are as follows:

© 2012 the Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.