On October 23, Adele took the world by storm with her newest single, “Hello.” The debut track off her upcoming album “25” — slated for a November 20 release — has already become a hit.
Since the single’s release, the London native has been breaking records. She now holds the VEVO record for most views in 24 hours — previously held by Taylor Swift for “Bad Blood” — and her video was the second-fastest video to reach 100 million views. “Hello” debuted at the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 while selling 1.1 million digital downloads, the highest number ever recorded in the first week of digital sales.
When looking at the feats the track accomplished in only a short amount of time, it’s easy to call Adele one of the most powerful people in the music industry today. For her upcoming studio album, she is working with a slew of different producers, including Max Martin (“I Knew You Were Trouble”), Greg Kurstin (“Chandelier”) and Ariel Rechtshaid (“Pray To God” feat. HAIM). This diverse yet powerful group of producers backing Adele is expected to further her reign as queen of pop music.
With Adele’s reign solidified, other artists already know they’ll be up against her for future accolades. Ed Sheeran, whose last album sold around 12 million copies worldwide, had expressed his fear of releasing his newest recording in the same Grammy category as Adele. His label wants him to make the 2016 Grammy cut-off by the end of next September, but Sheeran expressed that he might want to wait a month longer to release it. “I don’t know if I’m brave enough to go up against her,” Sheeran said to Billboard, and hinted at a release that would make his album eligible for the 2017 Grammy Awards.
Besides the release of “25,” November is one of the busiest months for new music. On November 13 — a week before Adele drops her album — fans will be able to buy Justin Bieber’s, One Direction’s and Alessia Cara’s latest records.
There has been speculation that labels were informed earlier of Adele’s late November release date, which explains why Justin Bieber and One Direction are working around her schedule and facing off against each other. Both pop sensations have debuted all of their albums atop the Billboard 200, but it seems that either the Beliebers or the Directioners will prevail, and one will hold the top spot until Adele swoops in and dominates the charts.
Although Bieber and One Direction boast devoted fan bases with millions of followers across all of their social media platforms, even they cannot beat the rumored opening numbers for “25.” Adele is projected to sell upwards of a million copies of her latest studio effort in the first week of its release. These numbers put her in the same category as Eminem, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and *NSYNC, who have all had first week sales exceeding a million copies sold.
Rihanna and her highly-anticipated eighth album, “ANTI,” have been hit by the Adele storm as well. While fans finally received the name of Rihanna’s latest record, a release date is still under wraps. Rumors have been floating by about a 2016 release so as to not clash with Adele’s holiday sales. Rihanna even recently cancelled her Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show performance — an ideal opportunity to promote her album. Ellie Goulding will replace her on December 8 instead.
Adele’s power may seem supernatural, but her album is already expected to debut to critical acclaim, so get excited for some quality tracks. Prepare yourself, because as soon as “25” is out, you won’t hear anything else for months.