Adele released 30 on Friday, and it is already the best-selling album of 2021 in the U.S., Billboard reports. More than 500,000 copies have sold between Nov. 19 and Nov. 21.
Adele’s fourth studio album bests the Taylor Swift’s previous reining top-selling record of the year, Evermore, which moved 462,000 copies through the week ending Nov. 18. Adele’s new LP has also had the biggest individual sales week of the year, eclipsing Red (Taylor’s Version), which sold 369,000 copies its debut week.
Should 30 debut at No. 1 on Dec. 4 when tracking for its debut week is reported, it will mark Adele’s third No. 1 following 2015’s 25 and her sophomore record 21 from 2011.
Adele’s “best album yet” is available in a variety of formats and exclusive editions. The artist recently requested Spotify to remove its shuffle function so that her album could be heard in the sequence that she had intended, and the streaming platform acquiesced.
In Adele’s cover story with Rolling Stone, she discussed the events — including her divorce and aftermath — that informed the album, which unfurls almost chronologically. During the interview, she revealed that “I Drink Wine” was originally 15 minutes long and discussed the bonus version of “Easy on Me” featuring Chris Stapleton.
At the BTS concert in Tokyo on Friday (April 17), j-hope opened up to ARMY with heartbreaking news. His grandmother, who played a major role in raising him and had always been proud of his journey with the group, has passed away.
Speaking to the packed crowd at the Tokyo Dome, the K-pop star chose to be open with fans about what he was going through. “Honestly, this might be a bit of a heavy thing to share, but I really wanted to express how I’m feeling today,” he said, translated from Korean into English. “Right after we arrived in Japan, I got the news that my maternal grandmother, the one who raised me from when I was little, had passed away.”
“I felt completely stunned and did not really know how to process it at first, but being around the members, sitting down together for meals, and focusing on rehearsals helped me more than I thought it would,” j-hope went on. “My grandmother was always incredibly proud, not just of me but of all the members. She truly believed in what we do. So I feel like if she was watching from above today, she would have loved every second of it.”
He closed by thanking the audience for making his first performance after the loss feel meaningful and full of support.
BTS are currently touring in support of their new album ARIRANG, which has just earned a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Following three opening shows in Goyang, South Korea, the group is set to perform twice at the Tokyo Dome before heading abroad for the North American leg. Before the tour wraps in March next year, they will also visit Latin America, Europe, Australia, and several other regions across Asia.
On the same day as the first Tokyo concert, j-hope’s solo interview with Rolling Stone was released. During the conversation, he spoke about stepping into a leadership presence within the group. “I think that’s my role on the team,” he shared. “It just comes naturally. It feels strange to even call it a role, but I just try to handle things as they come and support the other members in any way I can.”
Additional reporting from Billboard Korea.
