It's 21 For '21': Adele's Grammy-Honored Set Tops Charts Again

The pre-Grammy buzz alone surrounding 2011 Best New Artist Adele's comeback performance from throat surgery and her six 2012 nominations was enough to rocket her sophomore album 21 to a 20th week ruling over the Billboard 200.

Clearly, her six-way sweep didn't hurt her momentum, either. With 21 moving another 730,000 units in the week following her big Grammy night, she's now surpassed the late Whitney Houston's 20 non-consecutive week run atop the Billboard 200 with her 1992 "The Bodyguard" soundtrack and can claim a 21st non-consecutive week atop the chart. That now makes it the longest-reigning Number One album of the SoundScan era.

It's also the longest-reigning chart-topping album by a woman in history - once again, surpassing Houston. If it can achieve a 22nd week, it will surpass the run by MC Hammer's 1990 album Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em.

By the end of the Nielsen SoundScan week ending Feb. 19, album sales were up an incredible 207 percent, according to Billboard. It's the biggest single week of sales for one album since Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter IV debuted the week of Sept. 17, 2011 by selling 960,000 copies. This past week was also the single biggest sales week for 21 since its release, topping this past Christmas holiday when it moved 399,000 copies. The last non-debuting album that sold this well? Josh Groban's Noel during the Jan. 5, 2008 week, when it moved 757,000 copies over that Christmas week.

Topping the all-time list will be quite a chore. Adele's hit will have to top the amazing 54 weeks that the "West Side Story" soundtrack spent atop the Billboard 200, with its best sales coming in 1962.

Elsewhere on the charts, Adele's debut album 19 came in at #4 this week, its 87,000 copies sold marking a 144-percent sales boost and the chart position the album's best yet.

Though 21 has spawned three worldwide number-one hits in "Set Fire To The Rain," "Someone Like You" and "Rolling In The Deep," Adele confirmed last week that she'd soon go for a grand slam by releasing "Rumour Has It" to U.S. radio stations around mid-March.