Billboard, Fuse, The Sydney Morning Herald and numerous others placed the album at number one on their most anticipated list, with the latter stating "if Adele releases her third album in 2015, she could dominate the year." Prior to the album's official announcement, music journalists and fans speculated that the album would be titled 25 continuing the age theme from Adele's previous releases 19 and 21. Prior to the album's release, 25 was listed as one of the most anticipated albums of 2015. Before the album's recording came under way, Adele made a conscious decision not to try and create another 21 and would not make another "heartbreak record". Her hiatus from music came to an end after the birth of her first child in October 2012, with Adele stating her son inspired her to start recording music again in order for him to "know what I do". However, in early 2012 she announced she was simply taking a hiatus from music in order to "take time and live a little bit".
The concert broke numerous attendance records across the globe and grossed $167.7 million.įollowing the release of 21 (2011), Adele was considering quitting music.
It started on 29 February 2016 and ended on 30 June 2017.
To promote the album, Adele embarked on her third worldwide concert tour, Adele Live 2016. Following 21, it was certified Diamond by the RIAA, making Adele the only artist of the 2010s to achieve this certification with two albums.įour singles were released to promote the album, with " Hello" becoming an international number one song and the fastest selling digital single in the US, with over a million copies sold within a week of its release, " Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" charted within the top 10 and " When We Were Young" and " Water Under the Bridge" charted within the top 20 across Europe and North America.Ĭredited for impacting the music industry by encouraging a renewed interest in buying physical releases rather than downloading or streaming and much like 21, for saving the dwindling sales of the global music industry, 25 won the 2016 Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and the 2017 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. 25 was the world's best-selling album of the year for 2015, with 18.4 million copies sold within the year, and has gone on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth-best selling album of the 21st century, the second-best selling album of the 2010s (behind 21), and one of the best-selling albums of all-time. In the US, the album sold over 3.38 million copies in its first week of sales, marking the largest single-week sales for an album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991. 25 became a massive commercial success, debuting at number one in 32 countries and breaking first-week sales records in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom and United States. Issued nearly five years after the release of her sophomore album, the internationally successful 21, the album was widely anticipated and Adele's record labels promoted the album with an extensive marketing campaign.
Like when recording 21 (2011), Adele worked with producer and songwriter Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder, along with new collaborations with Max Martin and Shellback, Greg Kurstin, Danger Mouse, the Smeezingtons, Samuel Dixon, and Tobias Jesso Jr.Ģ5 received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended its production and Adele's vocal performance although some were critical of its formulaic nature and Adele's lack of taking risk. In contrast to Adele's previous works, the production of 25 incorporated the use of electronic elements and creative rhythmic patterns, with elements of 1980s R&B and organs. Its lyrical content features themes of Adele "yearning for her old self, her nostalgia", and "melancholia about the passage of time" according to an interview with the singer by Rolling Stone, as well as themes of motherhood and regret. The album is titled as a reflection of her life and frame of mind at 25 years old and is termed a "make-up record". 25 is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 20 November 2015 by XL Recordings and Columbia Records.