25

25 is the third studio album by Adele, released in November 2015 on XL Recordings/Columbia Records and produced by Greg Kurstin, Paul Epworth, Danger Mouse, Max Martin, and Ryan Tedder. It was the fastest-selling album in US history at the time of its release, selling 3.38 million copies in its first week to become the only album to sell more than 3 million copies in a single week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Adele wrote or co-wrote all her own material, including 'Hello' (which became the first song ever to sell one million digital downloads in a single week in the United States, spent ten weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and was the best-selling single of 2015 globally), alongside 'When We Were Young,' 'Million Years Ago,' and 'Send My Love (To Your New Lover).' The album was deliberately withheld from streaming services on its release date, a decision that made it the subject of widespread industry discussion about the economics of streaming versus traditional sales, and which demonstrated that a sufficiently anticipated mainstream album could still generate massive purchase numbers in the streaming era. 25 won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2017, making Adele only the second artist (along with Taylor Swift) to win in consecutive Grammy ceremonies; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album and Record of the Year for 'Hello.' The album has sold over 22 million copies worldwide and broke numerous chart records across multiple countries, making it the most commercially successful release of 2015 by a significant margin.