NEW YORK • Justin Bieber's new album, Purpose, has smashed the record in the first week streaming on Spotify, the online music service said last Friday.

The Canadian pop star's first album in three years was streamed 205 million times since its release a week earlier, with 77 million of the streams in the United States.

The figure was far above the previous record set three months ago by another Canadian, R&B singer The Weeknd.

Spotify announced the achievement the same day that British singer Adele released her hotly anticipated 25, which the music industry expects to be the best-selling album in years. But her label did not make 25 available on streaming services, which provide unlimited on- demand music.

Bieber released Purpose, on which the often troubled 21- year-old reflects on life in the public eye, the same day that British boyband One Direction put out Made In The A.M., their last album before a hiatus.

Spotify said One Direction also beat The Weeknd's previous record but did not match Bieber's.

In Britain, Bieber stormed the singles charts last Friday with three songs from his new album in the Top Five, a feat no other artist has managed since John Lennon, posthumously, in 1981.

The Canadian singer's tracks, Sorry, Love Yourself and What Do You Mean?, took first, third and fifth place. Sorry pushed Adele's Hello from the top spot it had occupied for three weeks.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS