If that number proves to be true, that'll be quite impressive. (Keep in mind Adele's 21, which, by comparison, has sold "only" about 1.7 million copies, despite being #1 for eight weeks.). And several factors go into that high number: Walmart violating yesterday's street date and putting the album on sale over the weekend, ridiculously low first-day sale price of 99¢ at the Amazon MP3 store, Gaga's relentless promo grind, etc.
The last album to sell such an enormous number of copies in its first week on sale was Taylor Swift's Speak Now, which debuted at #1 last November on the strength of 1,047,000 copies moved. Prior to that, Eminem's Recovery shifted 741,000 out of the gate last June.
However many copies Born This Way winds selling, there's no doubt it'll be Lady Gaga's long overdue first #1 album on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Unless like, you know, the general public gets the sudden urge to ram the Hangover II soundtrack up their candy box.
