Adele's "21" os back at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (76,000; down 8%) andthe British songstress' set collects its 12th week atop the list. It's the most weeks at No. 1 for an album since Santana's "Supernatural" also racked a dozen leading frames in late 1999 and early 2000.

"21" hasn't been absent from the top three rungs on the list since it debuted at No. 1 -- 24 weeks ago. It's to-date sale rise to 2.9 million this week -- still by far the year's top selling album.

You can go two way with this. First Is that Adele is really talent and she appeals to older adults who buy albums. Second is that bc of bad albums sales, an stable album, that sells over 80k+ each week, can spend all that time in the top three and at the penthouse. Let's face it, albums have at most a 4 week left span at the top three. As albums have a big week or two, adele stays in the mix. The sad part of this, even though it is a big acomplishment for Adele, 10 or 20 years ago, this would be common place. How long will Adele keep this up? The world may never know!

Will "21" rack a 13th frame at No. 1 next week? Most likely not, as Jay-Z & Kanye West's "Watch the Throne" is a sure bet for a big bow in the penthouse with over 500,000 copies sold.

Trace Adkins arrives at No. 3 with "Proud to Be Here" (47,000) -- his fourth top 10, with the top debut.

Other debuts inculde: Mat Kearney nabs a new chart high and best sales week ever as "Young Love" launches at No. 4 with 44,000, The soundtrack to the Nickelodeon TV series, and "Victorious" debuts at No. 5 (41,000) while the various artists R&B compilation "Slow Grind" jumps in at No. 9 with 32,000.

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Aug. 7) totaled 5.67 million units, down 2% compared to the sum last week (5.76 million) and up 8% compared to the comparable sales week of 2010 (5.26 million). Year to date album sales stand at 183.47 million, up 2% compared to the same total at this point last year (180.18 million). It is the eleventh week in a row where year-to-date album volume is greater than the same time in the prior year.