Adele's 21 turns 10: How the singer's second album took over the charts

A decade ago, Adele unleashed a tornado on the charts with the release of her second album 21.

Anticipation around the record had initially been high - her 2008 debut topped the charts and earned her a Grammy for Best New Artist - but the weeks leading up 21's release saw the hype machine whirr into overdrive. Its lead single Rolling In The Deep dominated radio, while spot performances of some of the album’s tracks on TV proved this record was special - a definitive breakup album the world could relate to.

Posting on Instagram, Adele admits she can remember very little about the time, so, ten years on from its release, here’s a reminder of just how successful 21 was...

1. 21 is the UK’s best-selling album of the 21^st Century

With 5 million sales (208,000 of which were in its first week), 21 is also the UK’s fourth best-selling album of all-time. Only Queen's Greatest Hits, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abba's Gold have sold more. Adele is the only solo female artist in the all-time Top 10. Check out the full list here.

2. 21 was the longest-running UK Number 1 album for 45 years. 

21 spent a total of 23 weeks at Number 1, the first 11 of which were consecutive. It was the most amount of weeks at Number 1 for an album since Simon and Garfunkel’s 33-week chart topper Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1970. 21 didn't exit the Top 3 for its first eight months of release. View 21's week-by-week UK chart run here.

3. 21 took six weeks to hit one million sales in the UK

And it didn’t slow down from there, taking 13 weeks to hit two million sales, 33 weeks to hit three million, and 57 weeks to hit four million. 21's biggest week of sales arrived some nine weeks after its release, when it sold 257,000 copies in a single week. Proving its staying power, in 2020 the album had average weekly chart sales (including streams) of 1,213.

4. 21’s first two singles Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You are million sellers

Rolling In The Deep – a bluesy foot-stomper rooted firmly in the denial stage of grief – reached Number 2 on the Official Singles Chart (held off Number 1 by Bruno Mars) and has 1.1 million pure sales. Meanwhile, Someone Like You spent five non-consecutive weeks at the top, launching to Number 1 following her emotional performance at the 2011 BRIT Awards. The track has 1.67 million pure sales, making it the UK’s 25^th best-selling single ever.

5. 21 was the world’s biggest album for two years running.

21 sold 18 million globally in 2011 and 8.3 million the following year. In the UK, it was the best-selling album of 2011, having sold 3.77 million by the end of the year, and the second best-seller of 2012.