Adele sings and she tops charts, that's what she's best at, and, unsurprisingly, she's done it again. For the second consecutive year she's managed to have the biggest selling album of the year, reports the NY Times. 

Her second studio album '21' was the biggest selling album of 2011 having sold 5.8 million records in the US and she's managed to do it again in 2012 with sales of a further 4.4 million albums, amassing an impressive total 10.2 million. Reflecting the album's title sales crossed the 10 million mark which makes it the 21st album since records began of doing so. Adele's brilliant year was made even better by the birth of her first child.

In second place, and lagging quite a way behind is Taylor Swift whose own album 'Red' has sold 3.1 million records since it was released in October. To be fair to the young Country star, being released late in the year, Red only had three months to rack up those kinds of numbers, whereas 21 was released very early in 2011. 

One Direction's total sales matches Swift as both of their albums 'Up All Night' and their latest album, 'Take Me Home' managed to make it in the top five, with 1.6 and 1.5 million records sold respectively. This makes Swift and her One Direction boyfriend something of a power couple in the pop world.