In the pantheon of great musical comebacks there have been some memorable success stories: think Elvis, New Order, Rodriguez.
But Adele’s phenomenal return is redefining the parameters of what makes ‘a good comeback’.
‘Hello’, the first single from her upcoming album ’25’, has shattered a number of records and proven that the public – no, scratch that, the world – is more than ready for her return. While there’s little doubt that ’25”s imminent release will prompt the keepers of music’s history books to get out the Tipp-Ex once again, it’s well worth looking at how many records ‘Hello’’s four minutes and 55 seconds have already broken. Here’s a round-up of some of the most ridiculous stats…
1. She broke the one-week streaming record by nearly 4 million
‘Hello”s 7.32 million plays was a one-week streaming record in the UK, comfortably beating Justin Bieber’s measly 3.8 million plays for ‘What Do You Mean’ back in September. (Source: Music Business Worldwide)
2. She obliterated the US record for the most downloads
With a modest 1.1 million download sales in the bank across the pond, the Tottenham-born singer broke the record for first-week download sales in the US and, unsurprisingly, saw her single debut at the top of the country’s Billboard Hot 100 chart. Adele also pushed aside Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’ (which was downloaded 600,000 times in 2009) from the record books, which is something we can all be thankful for. (Nielsen Music)
3. She stormed to the ‘VEVO Record’ title
The 27.7 million views accumulated by the ‘Hello’ video was the most that a VEVO video has ever received in the first 24 hours of its release on to the interweb. That’s over 7 million more than the previous record holder Taylor Swift, whose ‘Bad Blood’ video earned 20.1 million views in a single day. (MBW)
4. She had 20.4 million on-demand streams in the US
Not content with dominating the regular charts, ‘Hello’ also occupied the top spot on Billboard’s subscription services-based On-Demand Songs chart. This well-eclipsed the previous record of 10.1 million set by Bieber back in September, which made for a double streaming-based blow for the Canadian. (Billboard)
5. It’s the fastest-selling single of 2015 in the UK
Well, that’s what 333,000 combined sales and 7.32 million streams does for you. (Official Charts Company)
6. Two people have Shazamed the song every second since its release
“No single has ever been Shazamed so much in its first day,” Daniel Danker, the company’s chief product officer told BBC Newsbeat recently. He also confirmed that the song was Shazamed 200,000 times in 24 hours. (BBC Newsbeat)
7. It’s been Number One in nearly every country on Earth
Statistics provided to NME by Apple three days after its release showed that ‘Hello’ was Number One on iTunes in 102 countries around the world, while new album ’25’ was Number One in 93 countries on pre-orders alone. If there’s ever a need for a planet-wide anthem, then ‘Hello’ would surely be the popular choice. (iTunes)