NEW YORK: With Adele's album "25" breaking sales records, one of the keys to the British singer's success is an unusual pop music demographic -- older adults.
The buyers of "25" come from "a demographic not normally closely examined in the millennial-fixated entertainment industry," sales tracking service Nielsen Music said in a study.
US consumers who bought the CD of "25" in its first week were 36 percent more likely than the average American to be between ages 55 and 64, Nielsen Music said.
They also skewed wealthier, with buyers of "25" two-thirds more likely to have a household income above $100,000 a year.
However, the study did not look at who bought "25" on iTunes, who presumably could be younger.
Nielsen Music released the data late Thursday as it announced that "25" had sold more than five million copies since its release on November 20.
The album becomes the first to sell five million within a calendar year since "21," the previous album by Adele, in 2011.
Adele, best known for her ballads of heartache, is often said to enjoy such phenomenal success by her ability to appeal across ages and backgrounds.
By contrast, many other leading pop stars including Taylor Swift -- the best-selling artist in the United States in 2014 -- market themselves largely to a young, including pre-adult, audience.
With "25" hugely anticipated, Adele's label made the unusual decision not to make the album available on online streaming sites, obliging fans to buy it.
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