'DEEP' ROLLS ON: Adele is starting 2012 the same way she spent most of 2011: making notable news on Billboard charts.

As her album "21" - Billboard's top album of last year - returns to the leadoff spot on the Billboard 200, the set's first single, "Rolling in the Deep" - 2011's top song - completes a full year on the Billboard Hot 100. "Deep" rallies 35-30 as the chart's top Airplay Gainer, due, in part, to renewed radio interest as adult stations returned to non-seasonal programming, as well as from prominent placing on stations' year-end countdowns across multiple formats.

"Deep" becomes one of just seven singles by women to have tallied 52 weeks or more on the Hot 100. Here is the elite list:

Chart Weeks, Title, Artist, Years on Chart
69, "How Do I Live," LeAnn Rimes, 1997-98
65, "You Were Meant for Me"/"Foolish Games," Jewel, 1996-98
64, "Before He Cheats," Carrie Underwood, 2006-07
56, "The Way You Love Me," Faith Hill, 2000-01
56, "I Don't Want to Wait," Paula Cole, 1997-98
53, "Breathe," Faith Hill, 1999-2000
52, "Rolling in the Deep," Adele, 2011

Year-end chart trivia: Hill's "Breathe" and Adele's "Deep" are the only year-end Hot 100 No. 1s to have spent a year or more on the weekly chart. If "Deep" can hang on for two more weeks - seemingly a possibility considering that it's still No. 4 on Adult Contemporary and continuing to receive airplay on pop, adult pop and adult alternative radio - it would become the longest-charting No. 1 song of the year in the Hot 100's 53-year history.

And, considering that all the songs above live on in gold rotation at AC radio - Jewel's 15-year-old "You Were Meant for Me," for instance, received 256 plays on adult contemporary stations in the Dec. 28-Jan. 3 chart tracking week, according to Nielsen BDS, translating to an audience of 1.5 million in that span - "Deep" may only have just begun its long-term radio life.


'21' = 1, '19' = 11: Got that?

While Adele's sophomore studio album, "21," returns to the Billboard 200 summit for a 14th frame, her debut set "19" rebounds 17-11.

The placement for "19" marks one of the three highest of its 115 weeks on the chart, as well as its highest in almost three years.

After debuting at No. 62 the week of June 28, 2008, "19" soared to an original No. 11 peak that Nov. 8, vaulting from No. 46 after she appeared on "Saturday Night Live." "The audience, many of whom tuned in to watch Alaska governor Sarah Palin's guest appearance, responded enthusiastically to Adele's performance," Billboard noted about the "highly touted newcomer" (Adele, not Palin) in that issue.

On the Feb. 28, 2009, Billboard 200, "19" bounded 27-10 for its only week in the top 10 to-date. Her win as Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards that year spurred the vault.

As the sustained success of "21" has likely influenced new Adele fans to discover its predecessor, "19" single "Chasing Pavements" is also enjoying renewed attention.

Although "Pavements" reached a modest No. 16 on Adult Pop Songs three years ago, such reporters as CBS Radio-owned WWFS (Fresh 102.7) New York have recently sprinkled the song into rotation, effectively creating a bonus current for listeners who may not have been aware of it before Adele buzz reached its present heights.


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