She made it look easy.
Adele crowns the Oct. 30-dated Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. with lofty numbers, as “Easy on Me” drew 178.2 million streams and sold 136,300 downloads worldwide in its first full week, ending Oct. 21, according to MRC Data.
Further down both charts, 10 additional Adele songs from among her previous albums 19, 21 and 25 (released in 2008, 2011 and 2015, respectively) surge. Combined, the 11 hits total 332 million streams and 152,000 downloads sold around the world in the tracking week.
The British singer-songwriter’s catalog stampede is led by 21’s “Someone Like You,” which blasts 91-33 on the Global 200 and 91-38 on the Global Excl. U.S. survey. In its 26th week on the latter chart and 16th on the former, it sports gains of 69% to 22.2 million streams and 76% to 2,300 sold worldwide.
“When We Were Young,” from 25, follows on the Global 200 at No. 37 (No. 41 on Global Excl. U.S.), while “Rolling in the Deep,” from 21, is Adele’s third-biggest song on Global Excl. U.S. at No. 39 (and No. 42 on the Global 200). “Young” soars by 96% to 20.7 million streams and “Deep” is up 60% to 20.6 million streams globally.
Here is a rundown of Adele’s hits on the Oct. 30-dated Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts.
“Easy on Me” (No. 1 Global 200; No. 1 Global Excl. U.S.)
“Someone Like You” (No. 33; No. 38)
“When We Were Young” (No. 37; No. 41)
“Rolling in the Deep” (No. 42; No. 39)
“Love in the Dark” (No. 54; No. 58)
“Set Fire to the Rain” (No. 64 on both)
“Hello” (No. 71; No. 85)
“Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” (No. 79; No. 89)
“All I Ask (No. 110; No. 181)
“Chasing Pavements” (No. 113; No. 128)
“Make You Feel My Love” (No. 135; No. 142)
“Someone” first graced the global charts in October 2020, while “Deep” debuted this September. “Young” entered both rankings dated Oct. 23, when “Easy” bowed from its first five hours of activity in the week ending Oct. 14, and the other seven titles above all debut on the Oct. 30 rankings.
Adele’s older tracks range from the aforementioned 60% bump in global streams for “Deep” to a 107% jump for “All I Ask.” In sales, the gains span from 36% for “Hello” to 87% for “Ask.”
Like many of Adele’s chart accomplishments, her latest are unprecedented. In the first year of Billboard’s global charts, artists including Bad Bunny, BTS, Drake, Ariana Grande and others have blanketed the surveys with songs from new album releases. But aside from the odd song here or there, none of their new music spurred such a host of older material onto the charts, much less a double-digit hit parade all from the excitement of one new song.
Meanwhile, while Adele boasts the same number of songs on each chart, their overall performance is slightly stronger on the Global 200. “Easy” and “Set Fire to the Rain” have the same rank on both charts and “Deep” places three spots higher on the Global Excl. U.S. list, but her other eight global hits all fare better on the Global 200. In the most extreme case, “Ask” is 71 positions higher on the Global 200 than the Global Excl. U.S. chart.
Of the 10 older songs on the charts, two are from 19 (“Chasing Pavements” and “Make You Feel My Love”); three are from 21 (“Someone,” “Deep” and “Rain”); and five are from 25 (“Young,” “Love in the Dark,” “Hello,” “Send My Love [To Your New Lover]” and “Ask”).
The haul includes many of Adele’s iconic singles, as well as deeper cuts. “Dark” and her cover of Bob Dylan’s “Feel” never hit the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 but make the global cut this week, with the former even outranking former Hot 100 No. 1s “Rain” and “Hello.”
The 117-37 leap on the Global 200 for “Young” stands out as the song charts higher than “Deep.” Not only was “Deep” a seven-week No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2011, and the top song of that entire year, it finished in the top 10 of the chart’s decade-end ranking. “Young” hit No. 14 on the Hot 100 in 2016.
As anticipation builds for the Nov. 19 release of “Easy” parent album 30, it’s reasonable to expect more Adele on the global charts for the remainder of 2021.