"Set Fire to the Rain": The third Top Ten hit from "21"To nobody’s surprise, Adele Adkins finished 2011 as the year’s best-selling artist. Her sophomore album "21" entered the Top 10 in early ’11 and never dropped out. "Rolling in the Deep," its lead single, was the summer’s most inescapable song. In spite of displaying reticence and class unusual for modern pop singers, Adele became, arguably, the biggest star in the world. And in so doing, she demolished several of the recording industry’s most cherished myths.
Myth No. 1: Nobody buys albums anymore.
They sure buy them if they’re made by Adele. "21" sold close to 6 million copies — the biggest single-year sales figure since Usher’s "Confessions" in 2004. (Three and a half million of those copies were physical CDs — an otherwise endangered species.) The album nearly tripled the sales of Lady Gaga’s "Born This Way," which arrived amid a landslide of hype and was hawked for 99 cents on Amazon during its release week.
Myth No. 2: People only buy albums for the singles.
The superb "Rolling in the Deep" sold as many copies as the album did. But unlike every other 2011 best-seller, "21" was not designed to be a singles factory. "Someone Like You," the follow-up, didn’t get chart momentum in America until Adele performed it at the MTV Video Music Awards late in the summer. "Set Fire to the Rain," the new single (and Adele’s third Top 10 hit), doesn’t even have an accompanying video.
Adele did not sing hooks or appear, Lil Wayne-style, with other artists on countless one-off collaborations; she didn’t try to dominate the radio. She expected her listeners to play her album from beginning to end, and got what she wanted.
Myth No. 3: In order to sell millions of albums, you’ve got to pitch them to older listeners.
Adele’s soul-inflected pop appealed to Baby Boomers nostalgic for Etta James, Carole King and "Dusty in Memphis." It also appealed to teens struggling with the first sting of heartbreak, hipsters who missed Amy Winehouse, traditionalists weary of synthesizers and vocal effects and non-pop fans who simply found it refreshing to hear a singer belt out her blues with conviction. By singing almost exclusively about a relationship gone wrong, Adele made songs that anyone could identify with. Conventional wisdom says that in the fragmented post-modern era, an artist must target her demographic carefully, but "21" wasn’t niche-marketed. It was made for everyone and — surprise! — everyone listened.
Myth No. 4: In order to sell millions of albums, you’ve got to record for a major label.
Adele's "21" got a big assist in America from Columbia Records. But she still sings for XL Recordings, an independent British imprint that intentionally limits its releases, carefully choosing a few artists to push each year. This is the opposite of the current major label approach, which involves chucking as much music as possible at the charts in the hope that some of it will stick. This strategy continues to reach diminishing returns: The majors had another mediocre year. Over at XL, they’re popping bottles of champagne.
Myth No. 5: It is no longer enough to be a singer. In order to be a star, a musical artist must be a full-spectrum celebrity.
Thank you, Adele, for driving a stake through this one. While her peers courted the tabloids, tweaked the censors, starred on television programs, staged spectacular dance routines and rhapsodized about fame as an art form, Adele just showed up and sang. If you’re good enough and passionate enough, that’s all we’ll ever need from you.
Songs of the Day are posted Mon.-Thu. at 3 p.m. Song of the Week, which will focus on contemporary chart hits, will be posted on Friday. For past Songs of the Day, click here
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