Adele is an English singer-songwriter known for her soulful voice and emotive lyrics. Her debut album 19 (2008) was a commercial and critical success, earning her two Grammys. Adele's second album 21 (2011) was an even greater success, breaking numerous records and winning her six Grammys including Album of the Year. 21 has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making Adele the best-selling recording artist of the past decade. She is the first living artist to have a top 5 album and two top 5 singles in both the UK and US simultaneously.

1. Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins[2] (born 5 May 1988), better known simply as Adele, is an English singer-
songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist. Adele was offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after
a friend posted her demo on Myspace in 2006. The next year she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice"
award and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to much commercial and
critical success. It certified four times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the US.[3][4] Her career in
the US was boosted by a Saturday Night Liveappearance in late 2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele
received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[5][6]
Adele released her second album, 21, in early 2011.[7][8] The album was well received critically and
surpassed the success of her debut,[9] earning the singer six Grammy Awards in 2012 including Album of the
Year, equalling the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night.[10][11] The album
has also led to her receiving numerous other awards, including two Brit Awards and three American Music
Awards. The album has been certified 16 times platinum in the UK;[3] in the US the album has held the top
position longer than any other album since 1985, and iscertified Diamond.[12][13][14] The album has sold 25
million copies worldwide.[15]
The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness World Records. She is the first artist to
sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK.[16] With her two albums and the first two singles
from 21, "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You", she became the first living artist to achieve the feat of
having two top-five hits in both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously
sincethe Beatles in 1964.[17][18] With her third release from the album, "Set Fire to the Rain", which became
her third number one single in the US, Adele became the first artist in history to lead the Billboard 200
concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number-ones.[19]
Adele is the first female in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three singles in the top 10 at the same
time as a lead artist, and the first female artist to have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two
singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.[20] 21 is the longest running number one album
by a female solo artist on the UK and US Albums Chart.[21][22] In 2011 and 2012, Billboard named Adele
Artist of the Year.[23][24] In 2012, Adele was listed at number five on VH1′s 100 Greatest Women In Music,
[25] and the American magazine Time named Adele one of the most influential people in the world.[26] In
January 2013, for her song "Skyfall", she received an Academy Award nomination as well as theGolden Globe
Award for Best Original Song.[27]