Adele's Out-Of-Nowhere Mega-Year Explained
By Sterling Wong
It wasnt supposed to be like this: 2011 was supposed to be the year of Lady Gaga. Coming off a mammoth first album and incredibly successful world tour, the 25 year-old was expected to rule the world with her massively hyped and eagerly anticipated sophomore album, Born This Way.
Make no mistake, Gagas Born This Way was a success, debuting on the Billboard 200 with over 1 million copies sold and putting four singles in the top ten. But the real zeitgeist this year was unexpected: a humble, English, 23 year-old soul singer who we know simply as Adele.
The songstress found success with her first album, 2008's 19, but it was she, and not Gaga, who enjoyed sophomore success the likes of which have not been seen since well, ever!
The key to Adeles success is simple: Her soaring, soulful vocals, coupled with heartfelt lyrics and elegiac production, stood out and struck a chord in the hearts of everyone from teenagers mourning the loss of love to grandmothers enjoying the throwback feel of her songs.
Heres a gander at some of the impressive numbers Adeles racked up this year (there were so many we couldnt begin to list them all!):
>>> 21 is the most downloaded album ever in the US and in the UK.
>>> "Rolling in the Deep" is the bestselling download ever by a British artist
>>> 21 is the first album to sell more than 5 million copies in America in a calendar year since Ushers Confessions did so in 2004.
>>> Her live DVD, "Live at Royal Albert Hall," after just two weeks of sales, has already sold more than any other musical video in an entire year since 2009.
>>> Adeles power extends beyond her own products: Glees mashup of Rumor Has It/Someone Like You was so popular it became the TV series bestselling mashup to date.
>>> Adele has both the No. 1 Billboard 200 album (21) and the No. 1 Hot 100 song ("Rolling in the Deep") of 2011.
>>> "Someone Like You" is the first-ever acoustic ballad to hit No.1 on the Hot 100.
>>> 21 is now the UKs bestselling album by a female artist ever, overtaking Madonnas 21 year-old The Immaculate Collection.
>>> Its not just sales too Adeles gotten critical acclaim by the truckload, including six Grammy nods, and more importantly, the title of MTVs Best Song of 2011 for Rolling in the Deep
The amazing thing about Adeles success, especially here in America, is that shes only released two singles so far and has already broken so many records.
With Set Fire to the Rain just starting to heat up on radio and a bounty of Grammy wins sure to come in February, we simply cannot see the Adele train stopping anytime in the near future. If youre one of the few remaining holdouts who continues to question what all the fuss about Adele is, we say: Resistance is futile.
To put it simply, there are times when we question how or why an artist has become so popular, but this is the very opposite situation. Adeles out-of-this-world success should be celebrated all the more because it is a rare instance where the tastes of the general public have aligned with that of the critical consensus. 21 and so! ngs like Rolling in the Deep and Someone Like You are stone-cold classics that will still be on radio playlists 50 years down the road.
Tags Adele