Now 93 overtakes David Bowie as the fastest selling album of 2016 so far

The compilation also outperformed the opening week sales of its recent releases.

The latest Now That's What I Call Music! compilation, Now 93 is officially the fastest-selling album of the year so far.

The album sold 247,000 copies this week, beating the previous 2016 best held by David Bowie's Blackstar, which racked up combined sales of 146,000 after his untimely death in January.

Now 93's first week sales have also outperformed recent releases in the series. Now 92 sold 211,000 units in its first week back in 2015, and Now 91 shifted 224,000 over its first seven days. 264,000 of you bought Now 90 upon its release in early 2015.

Now 93 features seven UK Number 1 singles including Justin Bieber's Love Yourself, Mike Posner's I Took A Pill In Ibiza and the longest reigning Danish Number 1 in UK chart history, Lukas Graham's 7 Years.

Other chart-toppers featured are Shawn Mendes’ Stitches, Zayn’s Pillowtalk and the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir’s Christmas Number 1 A Bridge Over You.

MORE: Now That's What I Call Music! 93 tracklisting revealed

This week also sees the launch of a new Now compilation in conjunction with Official Charts. Now That's What I Call Brit Hits is a 3-disc set with over 60 tracks from the Best of British since the millennium. Click here to see the full tracklisting.

To mark this occasion, we've counted down the biggest British hits of the decade so far. Check out the full Top 40 list here.

Check out the best music pictures of the last seven days below: