Hello (Adele song)

"Hello"
A dark black-and-white image of Adele holding a telephone to her ear
Single by Adele
from the album 25
Released23 October 2015 (2015-10-23)
StudioMetropolis (London)[1]
GenreSoul[2]
Length4:56 (album version)
4:15 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Greg Kurstin
Adele singles chronology
"Skyfall"
(2012) 		"Hello"
(2015) 		"When We Were Young"
(2016)
Music video
"Hello" on YouTube

"Hello" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Written by Adele and the album's producer, Greg Kurstin, "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influences (including guitar) and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the song garnered critical acclaim, with reviewers comparing it favourably to Adele's previous works and praised its lyrics, production and Adele's vocal performance. It was recorded in Metropolis Studios, London.

"Hello" was a massive global success, topping the records charts in a record-setting 36 countries, including in the United Kingdom where it became Adele's second chart topper, following "Someone Like You", and had the largest opening week sales in three years. In the United States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for ten consecutive weeks while becoming Adele's fourth number-one single on the chart and breaking several records, including becoming the first song to sell over a million digital copies in a week. By the end of 2015, it had sold 12.3 million units globally (combined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling single while it stands as one of the best-selling digital singles of all-time.[3]

The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and Tristan Wilds. It broke the Vevo and YouTube records for achieving over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, and the record for the shortest time to reach one billion views (87 days) respectively.[4] "Hello" broke the iTunes records for being number 1 in most countries (102 countries).[5] The music video for the song received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[6] At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.[7] The song also won the Brit Award for British Single,[8] and APRA Award for International Work of the Year.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Target version booklet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  3. ^ "State of the Industry Overview 2016 | Most popular artists and global bestsellers of 2015" (PDF). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. IFPI. 2016. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Fastest time for a video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube". Guinness World Records. 17 January 2016. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  5. ^ Renshaw, David (26 October 2015). "Adele's 'Hello' breaks Vevo's most viewed record and goes to Number One on iTunes in 102 countries". NME. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Beyonce, Adele Lead Nominees for 2016 MTV Video Music Awards". Billboard. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  7. ^ Minsker, Evan (13 February 2017). "Grammys 2017: Adele Wins Record of the Year". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  8. ^ McGeorge, Alistair (24 February 2016). "Who won BRIT Awards 2016 Album of the Year?". mirror. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  9. ^ Zuel, Bernard (3 April 2017). "APRA Awards 2017: Eccentric musicians Sia, Flume, Troye Sivan and D.D. Dumbo among winners". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.