Adele had the biggest debut in 2021, but her new album sales sold significantly less than in 2015.

The new album sold 838,000 copies in its first week, most of them downloads and CD’s and had the biggest first sales week in 2021.

The previous album “25” sold 3.8 million copies in its first week and went on to sell 18 million copies over 12 months. Adele spent the year on a tight schedule of TV appearances, award shows, radio visits, and a worldwide tour. If Adele were to follow the same exact blue print, it wouldn’t have the same effect because these promotional runs don’t penetrate like they once did. Today, you want TikTokers covering the song, hoping it goes viral, but even TikTok has peaked.

Some critics claim Adele waited too long between album cycles and that 6 years will cost you relevance. The album should had more hooks and artist features. Maybe Adele can recruit Rapper DaBaby for a new version of Easy On Me. Surely, that will drive sales. None of this matters and wouldn’t change the outcome. You can’t reassemble a hit, nor the year 2015.

Adele released her 4th album. Most artists don’t make it past the second album. Media has changed the music industry and there’s no looking back.

Watch out for Swedish band Disco Arcade and the fun uptempo track ‘What’s Going On”. You’ll enjoy if you like the 80’s. The best part? It has a sax solo. The track could find a home on Apple’s 80’s Hits Essentials.

The band consists of musicians  Klara & Jag and Malou Prytz. They’ve toured in Europe with Swedish radio play, television, and a Spotify’s New Music Friday placement.

“What’s Going On is the band’s second single, it’s about the frustration of being involved with someone who keeps sending mixed signals.

Adele slid through the cracks, moments before politics would dominate the discussion and social media would create distraction.

Adele said that she and Drake are “a dying breed” within the music industry. That’s probably true. Adele built her music capital assets in 2008, seconds before the explosion of social media. Adele’s name was bolstered when she performed on SNL, the same night Governor Sarah Palin who also appeared on the TV show which became the most watched episode in history. In Adele’s words, it was ‘pure luck’.

“We are a dying breed,” Adele said. “There was like 10 of us. You know, I don’t think there’ll ever be that many of us again at the top doing it the way we were doing it.

The battle for customer mindshare has become a grueling task and 2008 was a simpler time and the world was more unified. Politicians and influencers have infiltrated platforms that were once occupied by artists like Myspace. Everything changed in 2009.  Adele slid through the cracks, moments before politics would dominate the discussion and social media would create distraction.

Adele’s friend posted her demo on Myspace, where it led to a phone call from Richard Russell, boss of the music label XL Recordings. It was more easy to stand out. Today,  Spotify has more than 70 million tracks with more than 60,000 uploaded to the service every day.

Adele says: “We came out before streaming. We came out before all the social media frenzies of like, ‘You’ve got five seconds to entertain; otherwise, get out’. We existed in the old school-ness of the industry that we grew up watching and aspiring to [be part of].”

Look out for Jen Kalicharan and the new track Y2K. You’ll like if you want to explore the 2000s, when Auto-Tune was bolstered. Think Black Eyed Peas and Kesha.

The track is the first single from the Vancouver singer to come out this year before starting off with bi-weekly releases from her project, The Jeniverse.

Jen says: “Have fun and never listen to what others say about you. Imagine this song being
the soundtrack to your best nights of getting ready with your girlfriends, going out to the club and blasting this song while the world revolves around you”. Stream the track on KOAR’s Indie Invaders.

The Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has defended the Grammy nomination of Marilyn Manson.

Brian Warner aka Manson was accused of sexual assault and abuse by former wife which he denied. Manson was nominated for his contributions to Kanye West’s “DONDA,” which was nominated for Album of the Year and in Best Rap Song for West’s track “Jail.”

Harvey made the right move. If artist behavior is the new metric for a Grammy nomination, you’ll be seeing an empty stage.

“What we will control is our stages, our shows, our events, our red carpet,“ Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says

“We won’t restrict the people who can submit their material for consideration. We won’t look back at people’s history, we won’t look at their criminal record, we won’t look at anything other than the legality within our rules of, is this recording for this work eligible based on date and other criteria. If it is, they can submit for consideration,” Mason told TheWrap.