Adele spends 18th week at the top of Billboard 200, beats out Tim McGraw

Adele’s 21 continues to sell, moving enough copies this past week to top the Billboard 200 chart for an 18th consecutive week, despite competition from country star Tim McGraw’s new album, Emotional Traffic.

Now that Adele is confirmed to make her return to the stage at this month’s Grammy Awards, it is likely that 21 will keep selling. Billboard reports that 21 sold another 116,000 copies, a 22 percent jump from the week before, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers. The album was boosted by a new deluxe edition that was sold at Target for an advertised price of $13.99.

According to Variety, if the album can top the charts for another two weeks, it will tie the SoundScan record for 20 weeks at number one. That record is held by The Bodyguard soundtrack from 1992, which featured several Whitney Houston hits.

As for McGraw’s new album, his sold just 68,000 copies, enough to come in second place. In comparison, his last new album, 2009’s Southern Voice also debuted at number two. However, that album sold 137,000 copies in its first week.

The number three spot was also held by a new release. Metal band Lamb of God’s Resolution sold 52,000 copies. Their last new album was also released in 2009 and sold 68,000 copies in its first week.

The 2012 Grammy Nominees compilation came in at number four, selling a little less than 52,000 copies. Billboard notes that the previous two compilations sold 220,000 and 281,000 copies each, so the 2012 edition is likely to stay around the top of the charts for the next few weeks.

Ingrid Michaelson earned her highest charting debut of her career with Human Again, which sold 40,000 copies and finished at number five. MTV News reports that the new Kidz Bop came in sixth with 33,000 copies. Former American Idol Kellie Pickler’s new album, 100 Proof debuted at number seven with 27,000 copies sold.

The rest of the top ten included Seal’s new Soul 2, which sold 27,000 copies; Drake’s Take Care, which sold another 26,000 copies, and Kari Jobe’s Where I Find You debuted to the tune of 25,000 copies sold.

On the Digital Songs chart, Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” came out on top, selling 225,000 downloads.