Adele’s 21 album turns 10!  The album was first released in the UK in January 2011 and later in North America on February 22, 2011.  21 went on to become her first album to top the charts in the United States and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 100 in March 2011.

To celebrate this special milestone, Adele writes on Instagram, “Well I never! Happy 10 years old friend! It’s crazy how little I remember of what it was like and how I felt a decade ago. But Thank You from the bottom of my heart for letting us into your lives and letting me be a soundtrack to some of it x.”

 

 

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The album features some of Adele’s biggest hits such as ‘Rolling in the Deep,’ ‘Someone Like You,’ and ‘Set Fire to the Rain.’  Adele became the first woman to have all three singles featured inside Billboard’s Hot 100 top 10 at once.

 

 

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Months after the album’s release, Adele would claim a Guinness World Record for ‘becoming the first female artist to have two singles and two albums in the UK top five at the same time.”

 

Album Accomplishments:

  • By January 2012, the album became the best-selling digital album of all time in the U.S.
  • The album spent seven years on the Billboard U.S. 200 chart, and spent its first two years inside the top 35.
  • Adele set a record for the longest-charting album by a female solo artist.
  • The album has sold more than 31 million copies worldwide, it topped the music charts in over 30 countries, and is the best-selling album of the last decade.
  • 21 became the best-selling album in 2011 and 2012 in both Canada and the U.S. – the only other artist/album to pull this off was Michael Jackson’s Thriller in 1983 and 1984.

 

Album Award Wins:

  • Billboard ‘Artist of the Year’ (2011), Billboard ‘Album of the Year’ (2011), Billboard ‘Song of the Year’ for ‘Rolling in the Deep’ (2011).
  • Adele won all six categories she was nominated in at the 2012 Grammys – Album / Record / Song of the Year.
  • Adele became the second female artist in Grammy history to win that many awards in a single night – the only other female artist to accomplish this was Beyoncé.
  • At the 2012 Grammy awards, Adele would become the first female and second artist to win in all four major categories (the first was Christopher Cross in 1980 and the second, Billie Eilish in 2020).

 

Listen to 21 below.

 

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