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Adele’s ‘25’ Finally Comes to Streaming Services

Adele, whose album “25” has spent a total of 10 nonconsecutive weeks atop the chart.Credit...Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images

After seven months and many, many millions of albums sold, Adele’s “25” is finally coming to streaming services.

The music blockbuster — which moved a record-shattering 3.38 million copies in the United States in its first week and nearly nine million here to date — will be made available on services including Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music in full for the first time after midnight, representatives for the companies said on Thursday. (The album is already available to stream in certain time zones.)

The expanded availability comes as the album’s monster sales have inevitably slowed: “25” (XL/Columbia) sold 17,000 copies last week, down from 18,000 the week before, according to Nielsen Music. The three singles from the album — “Hello,” “When We Were Young” and “Send My Love (to Your New Lover) — which have been available to stream, remain popular online, with 7.7 million plays in the latest chart week.

For superstar artists, withholding albums from streaming services can be a way to increase traditional sales in an era when physical purchases and digital downloads are shrinking while streaming, with its lower profit margins, continues to explode. (Earlier this month, in a move acknowledging the growing influence of streaming, the Grammy Awards changed eligibility rules, accepting music that has been releasing only in that form.) Taylor Swift, whose “1989” is still not available on services with a free tier, such as Spotify, has also used a power move similar to Adele’s.

Adele previously explained her decision in an interview with Time. “I believe music should be an event,” she said. “I don’t use streaming. I buy my music. I download it, and I buy a physical [copy] just to make up for the fact that someone else somewhere isn’t. It’s a bit disposable, streaming.”

She added: “I know that streaming music is the future, but it’s not the only way to consume music. I can’t pledge allegiance to something that I don’t know how I feel about yet.”

Other major pop artists have taken the opposite tack: Drake’s “Views” has ridden its exceptional popularity on streaming services to seven straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart even as its sales have dipped. That run ties Adele’s earlier streak with “25,” though her album has spent a total of 10 nonconsecutive weeks atop the chart; with a push from streaming, that number may still grow.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: Adele’s ‘25’ Is Finally Streaming. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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