Sande album enjoys Olympic boost (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Sande album enjoys Olympic boost

1:38pm Friday 31st August 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

Emeli Sande's appearances at the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies have helped her to overtake Adele with the biggest selling album of the year so far.

Her debut release Our Version Of Events saw its sales swell by a third during London 2012, compared to the previous month.

Emeli, 25, has now surpassed Adele's record-breaking 21, selling 3,200 more copies during 2012, according to new figures from the Official Charts Company.

Emeli has seen her career soar since winning the Critics' Choice Award at this year's Brits. Her album has sold almost 660,000 copies since its release at the end of February, figures published at officialcharts.com show.

She appeared at both Olympic ceremonies, notably performing Abide With Me at Danny Boyle's opening celebration.

Managing director of the Official Charts Company Martin Talbot said: "At a time when it is as hard as ever for new artists to break through, it is fantastic that Emeli Sande now has the official biggest selling album of 2012 so far.

"It is also apt that Emeli should take over from the inaugural Brits Critics' Choice Award winner, Adele. Yet another British female singing star has been born."

Emeli still has some way to go before she outsells Adele though. Her second album 21 has racked up UK sales of 4.4 million and stands as the fifth biggest-selling album of all-time.