Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 02/14/2012 at 9:08 AM News

The Popdust Files: 21, adele, Billboard, charts, sales, the bodyguard, whitney houston

Does it just seem too perfect that after a weekend where 85% of the entertainment headlines mentioned either Adele or Whitney Houston, that we finally get to write a headline that connects the two of them? Adele has long been hot on Whitney’s trail in weeks at #1, with 21 marching closer with every week to The Bodyguard soundtrack’s 20-week run on top of the charts, and this week, it looks like she’s finally gonna match Whit. HitsDailyDouble reports that with sales nearing 200k—far more than she’s sold in recent weeks, likely due to a Grammy push combined with some discounted copies of 21 in certain stores—Adele should have more than enough for her 20th week at #1 on the upcoming chart.

So what next? Well, with the Grammys reintroducing Adele to the world (and the five people or so left on the planet who haven’t bought her album), it seems likely that 21 should get at least one more week on top—and how beautiful would it be if Adele’s 21st week at #1 was her last? Anyway, once she passes The Bodyguard, her next album to match will be MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em (yes, seriously) at 21 weeks, then the soundtracks to Purple Rain and Saturday Night Fever (Prince and mostly The Bee Gees, respectively) with 24 weeks. And Adele’s only about 36 weeks away from tying the West Side Story soundtrack—who knows? All she has to do is hang on until the VMAs in September, and she’s probably home free.