Lucky music fans in the U.K. got to own
Adele
‘s now-landmark album
21
on January 24, 2011, but it wasn’t until 10 years ago today — February 22, 2011 — that it arrived in North America.
Adele spent much of the days leading up to and after the release appearing on every TV show she could — including NBC’s
Today
,
Letterman
,
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
,
Jimmy Kimmel Live
and CBS’
The Early Show —
and was rewarded with a number-one debut for
21
on the
Billboard
chart.
In the U.S., the album produced four singles, including three number ones: “Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You,” and “Set Fire to the Rain.” Its record-breaking success is credited with giving the music industry a much needed shot in the arm. Adele — who walked through the door that
Amy Winehouse
originally opened — also paved the way for the subsequent success of other British singer/songwriters like
Ed Sheeran
,
Sam Smith
and
Lewis Capaldi
.
Here are just a few of the records that Adele set or broke with
21
:
–The album spent nearly seven years on the
Billboard
200 chart, setting the record for the longest-charting album by a female solo artist, with 353 weeks in total on the chart.
–In 2012, Adele became the first woman ever to have three singles in the
Billboard
Hot 100 top 10 at the same time: “Set Fire to the Rain” was number two, “Rolling in the Deep” was number five, and “Someone Like You” was number seven.
–Adele set the record for the longest-running number-one album by a female solo artist — 24 weeks — breaking the record previously set by
Whitney Houston
‘s
The Bodyguard
soundtrack, which topped the chart for 21 weeks.
–In December 2011,
Billboard
named Adele Artist of the Year and
21
Album of the Year. But it continued to be so popular that
Billboard
named her Artist of the Year and Album of the Year in 2012, too. She was the first artist ever to win both honors back-to-back.
–Adele swept the 2012 Grammy Awards, winning in all six categories she was nominated in, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. She was the second female artist in history to win that many awards in one night:
Beyonce
was the first.
–By November of 2012,
21
had gone Diamond, for sales of more than 10 million copies. It’s now the best-selling album of the 21st century, with more than 31 million copies sold worldwide.
By Andrea Dresdale
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