"Hello" is a song by English singer Adele.

It was released on 23 October 2015 by

XL Recordings as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele
co-wrote the song with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad wit
h soul influences, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon
release, the song was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably
to Adele's previous work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It w
as recorded in London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales"Hello" is a song by English singer Adele. It wa
s released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings as the lead single from her third
studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the song with her producer, Greg Kursti
n. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influences, and lyrics that discuss theme
s of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the song was well received by music cri
tics, who compared it favourably to Adele's previous work and praised the song's
lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
 as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
 Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
 tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
 20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
 by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
 2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
 record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
 the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
 holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
 259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
 "Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]"Hello" is a so
ng by English singer Adele. It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings
as the lead single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele co-wrote the so
ng with her producer, Greg Kurstin. "Hello" is a piano ballad with soul influenc
es, and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the so
ng was well received by music critics, who compared it favourably to Adele's pre
vious work and praised the song's lyrics and Adele's vocals. It was recorded in
London.
"Hello" reached number one in almost every country it charted in, including the
United Kingdom, where it became her second UK number-one single, following "Some
one like You", and has the largest opening week sales in three years. In the Uni
ted States, "Hello" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, reigning for 10 consecut
ive weeks whilst becoming Adele's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking se
veral 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 (c
ombined sales and track-equivalent streams) and was the year's 7th best-selling
single.[3]
The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and
Tristan Wilds. The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving
over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span, held previously by Taylor Swift's
"Bad Blood" which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe. It also bro
ke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views, previously hel
d by Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball", as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion Y
ouTube views (88 days). The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Vide
o Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video.[4] Adele prom
oted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special, entitled A
dele at the BBC. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three Grammy Awar
ds: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Contents [hide]
1 Writing and composition
2 Release and reception
3 Chart performance
3.1 Europe and Oceania
3.2 North America
4 Music video
5 Live performances
6 Cover versions
7 Media usage
8 Credits and personnel
9 Charts
9.1 Weekly charts
9.2 Year-end charts
10 Certifications and sales
11 Radio and release history
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Writing and composition[edit]
"Hello"
MENU0:00
A 21-second sample of "Hello"'s chorus, where Adele is singing the lines over la
yers of backing vocals, piano and drums "towards a very luscious wall of sound".
[5]
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin and produced by the latter. Kursti
n also played bass, guitar, drums, piano and keyboards, while Adele also played
drums.[6] "Hello" was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done b
y Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home.[7] The writing process f
or the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially Adele and Kurstin
started writing the first verse; finishing half of the song, six months later A
dele contacted Kurstin to finish the song with her, with Kurstin stating he was
not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it."[8]
"Hello" is a soul piano ballad,[2][9] played in the key of Ab major at a tempo o
f 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression heard in the verse, played
by the piano, follows a progression of Fm A? E? D?. According to Musicnotes.com, Adel
e's vocals span from F3 to A?5 in the song.[10] During the chorus Adele is heard
singing the lines over layers of backing vocals, piano and drums which were des
cribed by the The Daily Telegraph as leaning "towards a very luscious wall of so
und".[5]
Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret and plays out like
a conversation. The song was noted for containing themes of regret and was seen
as a follow-up to her single "Someone like You" appearing to reflect on a faile
d relationship. The song's lyrics were also seen as being conversational, revolv
ing around "all the relationships of her past", ranging from friends, family mem
bers and ex-partners.[11] Speaking on the song's lyrical content, Adele told Nic
k Grimshaw on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show: "I felt all of us were moving on, and
it's not about an ex-relationship, a love relationship, it's about my relationsh
ip with everyone that I love. It's not that we have fallen out, we've all got ou
r lives going on and I needed to write that song so they would all hear it, beca
use I'm not in touch with them."[12] According to Adele, the line "Hello from th
e other side" signifies "the other side of becoming an adult, making it out aliv
e from your late teens, early twenties."[8]
Release and reception[edit]
On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of "Hello" was played during a commercial b
reak on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial teased what was then
new material, with her vocals accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.[13] Josh
Duboff of Vanity Fair wrote that "the Internet collectively lost its mind" after
the broadcast of the trailer.[14] On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming r
elease of 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be relea
sed on 23 October as the lead single off of the album.[15][16][17] On 23 October
, Adele joined Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1 for the song's premiere.[18][
19]
Alexis Petridis of The Guardian described it as "a big ballad, but a superior ex
ample of its kind", and opined that the song is "precisely the kind of lovelorn
epic ballad that made Adele one of the biggest stars in the world."[20] Writing
for The Independent, Emily Jupp stated in her review of the song that it "might
not be groundbreaking, but Adele's return with her familiar, smoky sound is very
welcome". She called it an "'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said: "Adele does w
hat she does best, belting out emotional tales of love and loss much the same as
with her last album, 21, but this time, with a little more self-forgiveness."[2
1]
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Lyrics that work best when they zoom in
on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint."[22] Nei
l McCormick from The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song of loss and reg
ret", adding that "it takes a grip on the kind of memory every listener holds so
mewhere in their heart and merges it with Adele's own drama."[5] Rolling Stone r
anked "Hello" at number 6 on its year-end list to find the 50 best songs of 2015
.[23] Several publications have commented on similarities in the theme of the so
ng and accompanying video with that of "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.
[24][25]
Chart performance[edit]
Europe and Oceania[edit]
Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company announced that "Hello"
had accumulated 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, of which 156,000 wer
e downloads.[26] "Hello" entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 Octobe
r 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015 with 333,000 combined sales, of which
259,000 were downloads, making it the biggest selling number-one single on the
chart in three years. It marked Adele's second UK number-one single, after 2011'
s "Someone like You". Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in i
ts first week, breaking the streaming record previously held by Justin Bieber's
"What Do You Mean?". Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Po
p Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records and Christmas number one
s, "Hello" was the second biggest selling number one of the 21st century in the
UK, beaten only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me", which sold 345,000 copies in a week
in February 2001.[27] The following week, the song remained at number one after
selling a further 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times, the sam
e week the song was certified Gold by the BPI.[28] On 20 May 2016, it spent its
30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song has sold 918,700 in p
ure sales.[29]
The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, The Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland.[30]
In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October
2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in
its first week. The song also became the second fastest-selling single of the ye
ar, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again".[31] It marked Adele's second number-on
e single on the ARIA Singles Chart following 2011's "Someone like You".[32] The
single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum sellin
g over 70,000 units.[31] On 20 March 2017, Hello re-entered the chart at number
50 and has so far been certified 7x platinum for sales over 490,000 units. [33]
In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand singles chart,
holding the position the following week and was certified platinum.[34]
North America[edit]
In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 N
ovember 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song
to debut at number one. "Hello" started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart, a
fter three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 t
o 9, up 146% to 70 million all format audience impressions. The track started at
 number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand st
reams, becoming her first number-one song on the chart. "Hello" entered at the t
op of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track
to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and almost doubling the
record for the most downloads sold in a week, previously held by Flo Rida's "Ri
ght Round", which sold 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "H
ello" started with 61.6 million US streams, becoming her first number-one song a
nd the second greatest weekly total on the Streaming Songs chart, behind Baauer'
s "Harlem Shake", which registered 103 million streams on week of 3 March 2013.[
35] "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a si
ngle week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began
tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something Ab
out the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, selling 3.446 mill
ion copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.[36]
In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, se
lling another 635,000 digital copies marking the third-best digital sales week a
nd the highest for a non-debut week. "Hello" also held atop Streaming Songs with
47.4 million US streams, down 23 percent from 61.6 million in its first week, t
he track also stayed atop the On-Demand Songs with 18.1 million streams. On the
Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, up by 46% to 106 million all-forma
t audience impressions, thus becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The
track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart a
nd moved nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format.[37] The following week,
the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,0
00 downloads and becoming just the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for th
ree straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in ju
st its fourth week (the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year histo
ry), marking the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Ma
riah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth frame on 28 August 1993.
Additionally, "Hello" became just the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital So
ngs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs and Radio Songs tallies simultaneously in
the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the
Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's
history to reign for at least 10 weeks, and only the 3rd for a number one debut
, following "One Sweet Day" by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (16 weeks) and "Cand
le in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John (14
weeks). By spending a tenth week at the top of the chart, it became Adele's long
est-running number-one single and the longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 by a solo fe
male since Rihanna's "We Found Love," featuring Calvin Harris, which also led fo
r 10 weeks in 2011 2012. As of January 2016, it had sold 3.7 million downloads.[38
] The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song quadruple pla
tinum.[39] The single also benefitted from numerous Dance/EDM remixes as well,[4
0] thus resulting in "Hello" topping Billboard's Dance Club Songs and Dance/Mix
Show Airplay charts.[41][42] On the chart dated 23 April 2016, the song spent a
21st week at the top of the Adult Contemporary Chart, matching the record set by
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" (2005) and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" (200
2) for the longest No. 1 run among women since the list launched in 1961. It als
o equaled the third-longest stay at the summit among all acts.[43]
"Hello" entered at the top of the Canadian Hot 100 as the 100th song to top the
chart, selling 140,000 copies and outsold Justin Bieber's "Sorry", which sold 40
,000 units and debuted at number two the same week. The song was streamed 4.79 m
illion times, setting a record for the most streamed track in a week.[44]
Music video[edit]
"When I heard the song I saw a story right away. [The video] is highly unorigina
l. The lyrics are 'Hello, it's me' and then you see someone picking up a phone.
I'm not good at imagining super conceptual videos. I just thought it would be ni
ce to have her walk around the house and make phone calls and end up in a forest
, with maybe some flashbacks in it."
Dolan, behind the concept of the music video[45]
The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Canadian actor and dir
ector Xavier Dolan and released on 22 October 2015.[46][47] The concept of the v
ideo revolves around a recently broken-up woman calling a younger version of her
self.[45] Portions of the video mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her
opening her eyes in the beginning were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the fir
st music video in IMAX format.[48] The video draws inspiration from Dolan's semi
-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely
20.[45] The video was filmed on a farm in Qubec over 4 days in September 2015.[4
5]
The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called h
im after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, sugge
sting that a Caucasian male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan
elaborated "She was just like, 'I m concerned with the reality of the tensions be
tween authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out ther
e.'"[49][50] Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the v
ideo, which Wilds agreed to take part in.[51] During the filming both Adele and
Wilds were asked to improvise and "tap into" their past relationships in order t
o convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds h
aving conversations and laughing.[51] The sepia toned video shows Adele performi
ng the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scene
s of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with
Wilds' character.[52]
The flip phone used by Adele in the video was widely commented upon due to being
of a retro style. Dolan replied to the remarks by saying: "It makes me uncomfor
table filming iPhones because I feel like I'm shooting a commercial. Those thing
s: iPhones, laptops, all those elements, to me, they bring me back to reality: T
hat's not what you want. You want to get out of your own life; you want to enter
someone else's; you want to travel somewhere; you want to be told a story. I'm
realizing maybe I've been more distracting than anything else with that flip pho
ne, but it wasn't intentional!"[53]
The music video for the song broke the previous Vevo Record by achieving over 27
.7 million views within a 24-hour period.[54] Later, the video continued to brea
k Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" Vevo record for the fastest video to reach 100 m
illion views in 5 days.[55] The phrase "Adele hello" was also the top YouTube se
arch term of Friday and Saturday, and on average the video was getting one milli
on views per hour during the first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in a single
hour, beating the peak view rate of the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens
, which peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.[56] The video was parodied in a Th
anksgiving-themed skit on Saturday Night Live.[57]
As of 11 May 2017, the video has become the twelfth most viewed video on YouTube
,[58] having earned over 1.9 billion views.[59] The video also became the third
video on YouTube to reach 10 million likes on 29 May 2016. The only other two vi
deos to have over 10 million likes are "Gangnam Style" and "See You Again".
Live performances[edit]
Adele performed "Hello" live for the first time for a BBC one-hour-long special,
Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and was broadcast on BB
C One on 20 November 2015.[60][61] She also performed the song at the 17th NRJ M
usic Awards on 7 November 2015,[62] at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on
17 November 2015 as her opening number (Adele Live in New York City), and on Sa
turday Night Live on 21 November 2015.[63] On 23 November 2015, after appearing
on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon a
nd his house band, The Roots, playing classroom instruments. The version was bro
adcast on the show the following night.[64] On 13 December 2015 Adele performed
"Hello" on the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.[65]