More than ten years after the release of 21, Adele's album has sneakily crossed a legendary frontier it is now the best-selling album by a female artist of all time, surpassing Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard" soundtrack.
The updated data, as reported by The Sun, reveals that 21 has now attained the equivalent of 56. 375 million sales globally. That is just a hair over "The Bodyguard," which has been the record, holder for years at 56. 372 million since its launch in 1992.
The figures were worked out using the Commensurate Sales to Popularity Concept (CSPC), which is a method that takes into account a combination of physical album sales, digital downloads, and streaming data to come up with comparable results across different music eras.
A Record That Refused to Slow Down
21 was initially not viewed as an album when it was released in 2011. Instead, it was like a slow, burning flame that progressively gained strength through people talking about it and forming an emotional bond with it, rather than single or trend, chasing.
Songs such as "Someone Like You," "Rumor Has It," and "Turning Tables" were played on various radio stations and added to streaming playlists, thus helping the album stay commercially viable for a very long time after its release.
Producer and songwriter Ryan Tedder, who was involved in writing several tracks on the album, shared his thoughts on the occasion via an Instagram post.
Looking back, he said, "I think it's safe to say that NONE of us involved in this album, including Adele, truly realised what we were a part of during '21.'"
Tedder added that the team was simply trying to keep pace creatively, explaining they were "just having the best time and sprinting like mad to keep up with Adele's pace and get the music finished." He noted that the sound stood apart from mainstream pop at the time and that there was no guarantee of obvious hits — only confidence in the music itself.
Despite celebrating the achievement, Tedder acknowledged the weight of the record Adele surpassed, calling The Bodyguard "one of my all-time favorite albums" and adding simply, "Whitney... no words."
The Album That Changed Everything — Including Adele
While 21 reshaped Adele's career, the singer has previously admitted its success came with unexpected consequences.
In a 2015 interview with Australia's "60 Minutes," she said, per Billboard, at the time, "There are elements of what happened to 21 that frightened me and got out of control."
She described the album's growth as something beyond her control, saying it "grew limbs of its own and did marathon runs." The experience, she explained, left her questioning how to follow up such overwhelming success.
"How am I supposed to write and record an album that people relate to, I don't know," she said at the time, later adding that she distanced herself from the project in order to create music that felt grounded again.
A Narrow Pass of a Longstanding Giant
Houston's "The Bodyguard" soundtrack has been a benchmark in the industry for more than three decades. Released alongside the film of the same name, it included some of her most enduring recordings, including "I Will Always Love You," "I Have Nothing," "I'm Every Woman" and "Run to You."
Houston, who died in 2012 at age 48, remains one of the best-selling artists in music history, with more than 220 million records sold worldwide.
Other albums rounding out the all-time top tier include releases from Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, but none have maintained the same long-term commercial momentum as 21.
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