After Adele basically took over the world in 2011 and made a clean sweep at the 2012 Grammys, the “Hello” singer took a four-year break to raise her son Angelo. Despite the fact that Angelo is still young, the queen of heartbreak anthems resurged in late 2015 ready to make the comeback of all comebacks — and boy did she.
Because the 25 release was so late in the year, Adele didn’t really get a proper chance to reacquaint herself with the throne she built in 2011 (well, except for the killer album sales numbers). But that’s where 2016 comes in.
Whether she was shattering records, singing in the car or gracing the cover of a magazine, Adele definitely made 2016 her year. Take a look back at everything the global phenomenon achieved just this year alone.
She started off her year with the most epic Carpool Karaoke to date
Before Adele began her massive world tour, she hopped in a motor-car with James Corden for what became the most watched Carpool Karaoke by a landslide. The clip still would’ve been great even if it had only involved Adele’s singing, but with the addition telling stories of being drunk and a flawless Nicki Minaj rap, her British charm helped set the mood for what the rest of the Adele takeover 2k16 would look like.
She broke the record to reach 1 billion views on YouTube
Just five days after Adele broke the Carpool Karaoke record for most views in the first 24 hours, her first 25 single “Hello” hit 1 billion views on YouTube — the fastest video to reach that threshold.
She won the Global Success Award at the Brit Awards (and sobbed and cursed her way through her aceeptance speech)
As the recipient of the Global Success Award, Adele had to sit through an entire montage of the mind-blowing career she’s had so far — which wasn’t exactly the best precursor for her acceptance speech. Once it came time for Adele to grab the mic, she hadn’t had a chance to pull herself together, so she took the stage in tears. She managed to get through the speech, but not without a few sniffles and f-bombs along the way.
What’s more, Adele also won five of the six awards she was nominated for, with only the British Music Video of the Year being the only award keeping her from a sweep (a bit ironic considering her feat just a month before…).
She kicked off her sell-out world tour
While it was no secret that Adele’s 2016 tour was the hardest ticket to get no matter what city, fans were reminded of that when she began her voyage around the world. Starting overseas and eventually working her way to North America in July, Adele kept fans in the tour loop by sharing fun images from each city she’d hit.
She shut down Super Bowl rumors
Amidst speculation as to who would be performing the Super Bowl Halftime show in Houston in 2017, Adele was one of the top contenders — at least in the eyes of hopeful fans. She addressed the matter during her Aug. 13 concert in Los Angeles, where she declared that she was indeed asked to do the show, but she would not be partaking in the football festivities because it’s “not about the music.” (The NFL was quick to deny the fact that they extended an offer to Adele just one day later.)
She was Vanity Fair’s cover star (months after starring on Vogue‘s cover)
Adele’s 2016 covers definitely weren’t her first magazine rodeos, but they were perhaps her most stunning shots yet. Oh, and we got some pretty juicy stuff out of that Vanity Fair interview.
She completed 107 shows in 10 months
Other than one rescheduled show, Adele managed to make it through her epic journey without any serious issues — and gave herself a nice little public pat on the back for “bloody smashing it.”
She announced two headlining shows in Wembley Stadium
Apparently 107 just wasn’t enough shows for Adele. Shortly following the conclusion of the Adele Live 2016 tour, the singer broke the news that she’d be returning to her home country of England for two special nights in the 90,000-seater Wembley Stadium…which she’ll likely have no problem filling up.
She earned five Grammy nominations from 25, three of which are the Big Four
As if she hadn’t had a red-letter year already, Adele further proved that she ruled 2016 by landing five Grammy nods, three of which are part of the Big Four (Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year). Grammy nominations may just be the norm for the 10-time winner at this point, but fans are certainly excited to see what happens because she’s directly competing with Beyonce.
