Adele makes record-breaking return to UK chart top spot with new single
By Jeevan Ravindran, CNN
Adele has returned to the top spot of the UK charts and broken the national record for most streams in a week, with her new single “Easy on Me.”
The song is her third chart-topping single in the UK after “Someone Like You” and “Hello,” and Adele also has four number-ones on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart to her name.
Streamed 24 million times in the last seven days, the British singer’s new track smashed the record of 16.9 million streams set by Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings” in 2019.
A heartbreak ballad exploring Adele’s divorce from entrepreneur Simon Konecki, “Easy on Me” serves as the lead single from Adele’s upcoming album “30,” her first new music in six years.
On October 15, streaming giant Spotify also announced on Twitter that Adele had broken the record for most-streamed song in a single day with “Easy on Me.”
According to official UK chart figures, the song has had the most successful first sales week in four years with 217,300 sales — the highest since Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” was released in January 2017.
The single’s digital download sales figures of 23,500 were also the highest numbers for 2021 so far.
Anticipation for Adele’s new album has also seen a surge in the popularity of her previous songs — with her 2011 signature track “Someone Like You” re-entering the top 40 along with 2016’s “When We Were Young.”
The singer is also the first person to feature on the cover of both the British and American editions of Vogue magazine in its November issue, with interviews for both editions released online in early October.
In her American Vogue interview with Abby Aguirre, Adele said “30” had become a way of explaining things to her son, including why his parents no longer lived together.
“It’s sensitive for me, this record, just in how much I love it…” Adele told the magazine. “I’m not letting go of this one. This is my album. I want to share myself with everyone, but I don’t think I’ll ever let this one go.”
“30” is scheduled for release on November 19.
The-CNN-Wire
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