It stood to reason that she’d do good business. The lead single on 25, “Hello,” also shattered records: its music video was viewed at a rate of 1.6 million times per hour on YouTube. Her last album, 21, was the best-selling record of 2011 and ’12, racking up a staggering 30 million copies worldwide.

This is a little disingenuous, but only a little.

Americans are obsessed with the royal family.” “Maybe they think I’m related to the Queen. I’m not even from America.” The 27-year-old sets down her cup of tea, brightening. Reclined on the floor of her hotel room a few days after the concert, she says she has “no idea” why she’s sold so many records. Then another.Īdele can’t account for how she pulled off the seemingly impossible. Then sales passed another million the following week. But by the first week’s end, Adele had sold 3.38 million copies of 25, making it the biggest sales week in history. The last time that happened was in 2000, when ’N Sync’s blockbuster No Strings Attached sold 2.42 million copies-albeit long before streaming services obviated the need to buy albums. Selling 2 million units would be miraculous. Prognosticators anticipated that 25 might sell a million copies in its first week, an extraordinary figure in an anemic music industry that has seen physical record sales wither. Judging by Adele’s commercial success, at least, this is less opinion than fact. “I don’t think she even realizes how beloved she is,” the woman next to me says to her friend in a loud whisper.

Who wrote someone like you