Adele's Official Top 20 biggest songs revealed

Since debuting in 2008, Adele Adkins has become one of the most widely-known and successful UK music acts of the past two decades. With each album titled after the age in which she wrote the songs featured, Adele has been cheated, lied to and had her heart broken, only to then set fire to everything and start all over again.

Ahead of her imminent new single Easy On Me and fourth album 30, below we revealed Adele's Official Top 20 biggest songs in the UK. 

Take a look at the Top 10 below in more detail, but first...some honourable mentions:

Adele's biggest non-single is 21 album track Turning Tables. Co-written by pop hitmaker Ryan Tedder, it's her 12th biggest-selling track in the UK, amassing chart sales in excess of 539,000, as well as 40 million streams. 

And speaking of streams, Adele's most-streamed non-single is 25's All I Ask, a collaboration with Bruno Mars. So far, it's been streamed over 42 million times in the UK alone. 

10. Hometown Glory
Official Chart peak: Number 19
UK chart sales: 739,000

Adele's debut single, Hometown Glory was written about the singer's mother trying to convince her to move out of home in West Norwood, London to attend university. A firm fan favourite ever since, it peaked at Number 19 on the Official Singles Chart after a re-release following Chasing Pavement's initial success.

9. Chasing Pavements
Official Chart peak: Number 2
Chart sales: 1 million

Inspired after Adele was thrown out of a pub after she found out her boyfriend had been cheating on her ("what is it you're chasing?" she remembered asking herself, "you're chasing an empty pavement"), Chasing Pavements became Adele's first UK hit. Debuting and peaking at Number 2 in 2008 (losing out on the Number 1 to, umm, Basshunter), it has certainly set her in good stead, shifting chart sales of 1 million. (Fun-fact, every other song in this list has over 1 million chart sales). 

8. Send My Love (To Your New Lover)
Official Chart peak: Number 5
UK chart sales: 1.2 million

A change in pace for Adele, the more up-tempo Send My Love... was co-written and produced by Swedish pop magicians Max Martin and Shellback, who Adele was convinced to work with after hearing Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble.

7. Skyfall
Official Chart peak: Number 2
UK chart sales: 1.3 million

The theme song for the James Bond film of the same name, Skyfall was such a success it even netted Adele and producer Paul Epworth an Oscar for Best Original Song. 

6. When We Were Young
Official Chart peak: Number 9
UK chart sales: 1.5 million

A wistful and gospel-tinged soul ballad, where Adele imagines meeting up with a long lost love, years in the future at a party. Released as 25's second single, When We Were Young became Adele's seventh UK Top 10 single and, according to Adele herself, it's her favourite song she's ever written (although that doesn't excuse no official music video). 

5. Set Fire To The Rain
Official Chart peak: Number 11
UK chart sales: 1.5 million

A moody, glorious mid-tempo cut that is the closest Adele has ever gotten to releasing a full-on banger, Set Fire To The Rain is deliciously over-dramatic. The third single from 21, it peaked just outside the Top 10 in the UK, but posts impressive sales and streams because, well, Adele.

4. Make You Feel My Love
Official Chart peak: Number 4
UK chart sales: 2 million

A cover of Bob Dylan's classic composition of the same name, Adele was convinced to record her take on it by her manager, himself a massive Dylan fan. And ever since, it's become a reality-TV show staple, especially in the hey-days of The X Factor as an audition go-to.

3. Rolling In The Deep
Official Chart peak: Number 2
UK chart sales: 2.1 million

The lead single from 21 is a rollicking, blues-inspired tune that sees Adele raize the ground on a relationship so that nothing good can grow there again. Produced by frequent collaborator Paul Epworth, the track peaked at Number 2 in the Official Singles Chart in 2011.

2. Hello
Official Chart peak: Number 1
UK chart sales: 2.5 million

Hello? It's her. Adele's second UK Number 1, Hello ushered her back into dominance after a few years away with a moody music video to match. With its roaring production and super-sized chorus, Hello more than earned its hit status. Not only Adele's second biggest single in the UK, it's also her most-streamed song, with over 178 million plays in the UK alone.

1. Someone Like You
Official Chart peak: Number 1
UK chart sales: 3 million

The song that made Adele a superstar. A sparse piano ballad where Adele ruminates on believing in life after love, Someone Like You became the emotional centrepiece of 21. Thanks to a breathtaking live performance at the 2011 Brits, Someone Like You became Adele's first UK Number 1 single and is probably her best-known song. 

It's also her most popular, too. Someone Like You has amassed chart sales in excess of 3 million and has been streamed 173 million times. As a result of those mammoth sales, Someone Like You is the 25th best-selling song in the UK of all time. 

Adele's Top 20 biggest singles on the Official Charts

©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.