If you’re anything like me, Adele’s music was an essential part of your music library growing up. However, no matter the age, seemingly everyone is an Adele fan — her audience and passion in her music truly reaches and can connect to everyone. With an impressive resume of 146 nominations and 85 award wins under her belt, Adele has broken records and set history throughout her career. Some of her most notable moments were at the 54th Grammys in 2012 where she tied Beyoncé’s record for the most Grammys won by a female artist in one night, tied Eric Clapton’s record for most awards won by a British artist in one night, broke Michael Jackson’s record as the youngest artist to achieve six or more Grammys in one night, and is the eighth artist in Grammy history to win six or more awards in one night. After dominating the first half of the 2010’s, however, Adele took a hiatus and had not been seen anywhere on the music front for years. That is, until now. Let’s talk about it.
After a five year hiatus, Adele finally announced the news that’s been years in the making. Her fourth studio album 30 is set to release on Friday, Nov. 19, which is only a few weeks away, and it has left fans eager to get their hands on this next full-length album. With her past few years being more private, the artist disclosed on an Instagram Live earlier this month that this upcoming album was inspired by the struggles she has faced from her recent divorce.
Although the music industry was abuzz after Adele surprise-announced that her lead single, “Easy On Me,” was going to be dropped on Oct. 15 back on Oct. 5, many fans had seen it coming. Long-time fans of the singer predicted Adele’s comeback was coming on Nov. 19 when Taylor Swift moved the release date of her forthcoming album, Red (Taylor’s Version), up a week from the originally scheduled date of the 19. Furthermore, Adele’s social media profiles began to match a global advertising campaign that projected the number “30” on landmarks across the world, such as the Tate Modern and the Brooklyn Bridge, which appeared to confirm the arrival of the fourth album.
Only a few weeks after the song’s release, “Easy On Me” has already broken records, in true Adele style. In the first 24 hours of its release, it broke Spotify’s record for the most streams in a single day with 24 million listens from around the world, and debuted as #1 on Global Youtube Music Videos Chart with 33 million video views. The song also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, with 54 million streams, 74,000 track downloads, and 19,000 radio spins in the United States alone during its first week. Putting streaming and internet revenue aside, the singer has also broken several radio records. “Easy On Me” became the most played song in U.S. radio history during a song’s first week on the air, and is the most-added song in the history of Mediabase, an industry service that monitors radio station airplay, with 451 stations immediately adding it to their playlists.
With a new era of music among us, I know the years spent long-awaited by fans (such as myself) have definitely been worth it from the preview given to us by the lead single’s release. Although an Adele comeback took society slightly by (enthusiastic) surprise, it is exactly the comfort the world needed after the past few years. If you haven’t listened to Adele’s new music yet, what are you waiting for? You can find the single here. Happy streaming!
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