ADELE’S ENCORE

The U.K. pop diva’s XL/Columbia album 21 had the year’s best debut and now returns to #1 for the fifth time since coming out in February and selling 350k in its first week.

The Easter shopping week could boost the platinum-plus album to another six-figure week in sales. Meanwhile, her previous album, 19, is also climbing the charts. At this rate, next year’s Grammy race will be over sooner than the New York Mets’ season.

Based on one-day sales from those retailers still in shock at how much vinyl product they can sell, the week’s biggest debut comes from Columbia’s cottage Glee industry with Glee Cast: Glee Presents the Warblers, featuring songs performed by the show’s a cappella choir, led by star-in-the-making Darren Criss. Look for between 75-85k in sales for that.

Next highest debut in a week painfully short of them is Virgin/EMI’s Gorillaz album, The Fall, the physical/digital release of an album previously available to fan club members as a download last Christmas. The entire album was actually recorded on an iPad during an Oct. 2010 performance from the band’s last tour.

The market was up 8% vs. last week, up 16% vs. same week last year and now down just 3% year to date. In a world of bad news, consider that a ray of light.

You may now go back to programming your glowing LED computer-controlled Arcade Fire Coachella balls.