Adele

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE (born 5 May 1988), known mononymously as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She is known for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and songwriting. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a record deal with XL Recordings. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 and spawned the UK top-five singles "Chasing Pavements" and "Make You Feel My Love". 19 has sold over 2.5 million copies in the UK and was named in the top 20 best-selling debut albums of all time in the UK. Adele was honoured with the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Adele released her second studio album, 21, in 2011. It became the world's best-selling album of the 21st century, with sales of over 31 million. 21 is the top-performing album in the US chart history, topping the Billboard 200 for 24 weeks with singles "Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You", and "Set Fire to the Rain" topping the charts worldwide to become her signature songs. The album received a record-tying six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. In 2012, Adele released "Skyfall", a soundtrack single for the James Bond film Skyfall, which won her the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Her third studio album, 25, was released in 2015 to breaking first-week sales records in the UK and US, where in the US, it is the only album to sell over three million copies in a week. 25 earned her five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year. The lead single, "Hello", became hugely successful worldwide. Her fourth studio album 30 released in 2021 contains the chart-topping and Grammy winning single "Easy on Me". 25 and 30 became the year's best-selling albums worldwide including the US and the UK in 2015 and 2021 respectively. All of her studio albums except 19 topped the yearly best selling albums chart worldwide more than any artist in the 21 century as of 2023.

Adele is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, with sales of over 120 million records worldwide. She was named as the best-selling artist of the 2010s decade in the US and worldwide as well as best-selling female artist of the 21st century in the UK. Her accolades include sixteen Grammy Awards (including two Album of the Year wins), twelve Brit Awards (including three British Album of the Year wins), an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. 21 and 25 are certified Diamond in the US, most of any artist who debuted in the 21 century.