Adele: 21 [XL RECORDINGS]

Why you'll love it

21 won six Grammys including Album of the Year and was the world's best-selling album of both 2011 and 2012. "Rolling in the Deep," "Someone Like You" and "Set Fire to the Rain" all went to No. 1 in the U.S., with Rick Rubin, Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder in the producer's chair.

This edition

• XL Recordings pressing
• Original 11-song album

About the album

Well, that's one way to deal with a breakup. U.K. songstress Adele Adkins actually intended to make a more upbeat sequel to her acclaimed sleeper-hit debut, 2008's 19, but fate intervened in the form of heartbreak and a split from a long-term relationship. So Adele turned her tearful predicament to her advantage and channelled all that romantic trauma into her songwriting.

The result was a soulful, soul-baring breakup album, 21, full of raw emotion that struck a nerve on both sides of the Atlantic (hell, around the entire world) and went on to become not just the biggest-selling album in the entire world for both 2011 and 2012, but the biggest-selling album of the 21st century to date. It established Adele as a bona fide global superstar and sent people back to record shops at a moment in history when the music business needed it most. And, let's be honest, 21 is also just a really good, honest, heartfelt record, made with minimal fuss and adornment by a host of A-list producers such as Rick Rubin, Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder who all realized the best thing to do in the studio was take a step back and let Adele belt her lungs out. The gal can sing, and if you can somehow get through "Someone Like You" without feeling any empathy for poor 21-year-old Adele and her broken heart you should probably check your pulse.

Also at Kops: more Adele on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On XL Recordings, first out in 2011.