The Record Breaker: How 19 Launched Adele’s Meteoric Rise
Born to an English mother and Welsh father, Adele emerged early on as a powerful new voice in British music. As a teenager, she attended the famed BRIT School, where her classmates included Leona Lewis and Jessie J. A few years earlier, Amy Winehouse had also walked its halls.
Adele first gained attention through the social media platform MySpace—following a path similar to Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys—and was soon signed to XL Recordings.
Before even releasing her debut single, she appeared on Later… with Jools Holland in 2007, performing Daydreamer. At the time, she had only just graduated from college the year before.
Later that year, she released her first single, Hometown Glory, a tribute to her childhood area of Tottenham, London. This led to several headline acoustic gigs, often supported by another up-and-coming singer-songwriter, Damien Rice.
In early 2008, Adele released her next single, Chasing Pavements, just as she picked up two major awards—BBC’s Sound of 2008 and the BRITs Critics’ Choice—both of which had backed her from the start.
Her debut album, 19, followed in January 2008.
With more awards soon in hand, Adele signed a worldwide deal with Columbia Records and set off on her first U.S. tour. Initially, it didn’t go well, but a successful appearance on Saturday Night Live quickly turned things around—album sales spiked, and so did ticket sales.
A few months later, she famously pulled out of the tour to spend time with her boyfriend—much to the dismay, no doubt, of her label and management.
By 2009, 19 had sold millions of copies and the accolades continued to roll in. The difficult early tour must have seemed worth it to the machine rapidly building around her.
The final single from the album was a cover of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love. Surprisingly, Adele played bass on the recording—alongside delivering her now unmistakable vocal.
Although it took time to gain traction, the song eventually became one of her most recognised recordings. It re-entered the charts multiple times and went on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide.
Adele, Post-Debut Album
The follow-up album arrived in 2011. Titled 21, it was a massive success. Written about the boyfriend she had abandoned her American tour for—now an ex—it would become the album that launched Adele into global superstardom.
Hits from 21 include Someone Like You and Rolling in the Deep. These two songs were so successful that her debut album, 19, re-entered the charts. The impact of 21 was so great that it eclipsed Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black to become the best-selling record of the 21st century in the U.K.
The third single, Set Fire to the Rain, broke yet another record by giving Adele three U.S. #1 singles and a #1 album at the same time.
All seemed well as she set off on another U.S. tour. Unfortunately, it was soon cut short due to vocal issues. After undergoing laser surgery on her vocal cords, she quickly recovered and filmed a live show at the Royal Albert Hall. The resulting DVD—naturally—broke another record, becoming the highest-selling music DVD in a single week with 96,000 copies sold.
Having now sold the most albums, singles, and DVDs in a year, Adele attended the American Music Awards and collected three trophies. She also made history here as the first artist to win Female Artist, Contemporary Artist, and Album of the Year in the same ceremony.
At the following year’s Grammy Awards, she went even further, sweeping all six categories she was nominated in.
Five years after its release, 21 had sold 31 million copies worldwide.
Adele Albums in Numbers: From Skyfall to 30, and What Comes Next?
Before attempting the daunting task of following up 21, Adele composed Skyfall for the new James Bond film. Naturally, it became one of the best-selling Bond singles of all time, charting at #8—the same as Duran Duran’s A View to a Kill had done back in 1985.
Skyfall sold 5 million copies, and Adele was back on the red carpet, fielding questions about when her next album was coming and whether it would again be named after her age.
The answer was 25, released in 2015. While it didn’t quite reach the astronomical heights of 21, 23 million worldwide sales is still hard to argue with.
Two big tunes came from the record—Hello (not a Lionel Richie cover) and When We Were Young.
Most of the album was co-written, with big names like Bruno Mars, Max Martin, and Linda Perry contributing.
When Hello was first released on YouTube, it clocked at least a million views per hour for its first week.
Her most recent album, 30, arrived in 2021. Delayed due to the pandemic, it wasn’t quite another Adele-sized phenomenon. Fewer major singles emerged compared to her previous records.
Still, with 4.5 million albums sold globally, most artists would be popping champagne. By Adele’s standards, however, it might be seen as underwhelming—or perhaps it’s just too soon to tell.
Easy On Me, the lead single, certainly sounds like classic Adele, and its Spotify numbers are strong, so time will reveal how 30 stacks up against 19, 21, and 25.
What is certain is that as Adele once again graces red carpets to collect her inevitable awards, the question will no doubt return: what age will the next album be?
I’ll be waiting for the next Rolling in the Deep. And seeing as Adele got divorced in 2021, the stage might well be set…
Adele Tunes | Related Pages
Make You Feel My Love | Chords + TAB
You can learn to play Make You Feel My Love by Adele using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recordings.
| Bb | F/A |
When the rain is blowing in your face…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: Make You Feel My Love (Adele) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Need Your Love So Bad | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play Need Your Love So Bad by Fleetwood Mac using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, and a Spytunes video guitar lesson.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
Need someone’s hand, to lead me through the night…
Rolling In The Deep | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Rolling In The Deep by Adele using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Cm | Cm G |
There’s a fire starting in my heart…
Check out the full TAB lesson here: Rolling In The Deep (Adele) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Adele on the web
