Adele is embracing multiple formats for her new album, 30, released on November 19.
While the focus was heavily on CDs and downloads for 2015’s 25 album, the follow-up will see a more expansive campaign across streaming and physical music by Sony Music - both via D2C and retail.
The big shift for the 30 campaign is that the album - unlike 25 - will be available on streaming platforms on release day. The LP is available to pre-add on Apple Music and pre-save on Spotify.
Adele’s comeback single Easy On Me has already broken records on Spotify and Amazon Music. On its release day (October 15), it became Spotify’s most streamed song globally in a single day. BTS' 2021 single Butter was the previous record holder with 20.9 million streams. The Adele figure has yet to be revealed although it currently has 40.2m Spotify streams.
Amazon Music announced that the single had received the most first-day Alexa song requests in Amazon Music history.
In the UK, Easy On Me is chasing the biggest sale of the year to date as it looks set to claim No.1.
While there are big expectations for the performance of 30, it is being released in a radically different market to Adele’s 25, which was held off streaming platforms for several months. That had the effect of maximising pure sales, which reached 800,307 in the album’s first week in November 2015.
While that number will be hard to beat (no album released in 2021 has yet achieved platinum sales - 300,000 - and the physical market has dived since 2016), there are new opportunities for Adele. As well as a big contribution from streaming, vinyl is set to be a major element of week one, assuming supply is capable of reaching demand in a market challenged by issues with production capacity.
Vinyl made up just 5,386 copies of the 800,000 week one sales for 25 in November 2015, but the market for LPs has soared since then. As well as a double vinyl edition of 30 (retailing at £30), Columbia/Sony is making the record available on CD, cassette and download with multiple bundle options.
An exclusive limited cover edition will be available at HMV nationwide in the UK, while an exclusive clear double vinyl will be available at HMV and independent retailers in the UK. An Amazon white exclusive double vinyl will also be available globally.
The Adele album follows other big hitters in Q4, including Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres (October 15) and Ed Sheeran’s = (October 29).
Phil Halliday, HMV MD, said: “Together, Adele and Ed Sheeran have the four biggest albums of this century. It’s a truly unusual situation we’re seeing this Christmas, where the world’s two best-selling musicians are releasing highly anticipated new records within just a few weeks of each other. We’re about to see an unprecedented battle to have the year’s biggest selling record, as well as a see-saw battle for Christmas number one.
“The implications for music retail are hugely significant. Increasingly, we’re seeing artists cater to their fans’ growing love for vinyl with limited editions, which we’re predicting will result in a bumper Q4 for HMV in what is our 100th year on the High Street.”
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