As expected, Adele’s big return broke the charts. “Hello,” her first song in three years, debuts on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1, with a record 1.1 million downloads in a week. The last artist to even come close to that feat was Flo Rida, who had over 600,000 downloads of “Right Round.” With her fourth No. 1, Adele ends the Weeknd’s six-week dominance, becoming the first woman to top the chart since Taylor Swift did it in June. When the nostalgic “Hello” video first dropped more than a week ago, it was reportedly being viewed upwards of a million times per hour, obliterating Swift’s previous single-day Vevo record. (At the time of publication, it’s closing in on 200 million views.) On today’s chart, she’s credited with 61.6 million U.S. streams in one week, second only to Baauer’s viral hit, “Harlem Shake.” Predictions for Adele’s 25 are through the roof, with industry forecasters expecting her to sell more than a million albums her first week with no problem; they’re now betting on her pushing 2 million.
Saying hello from the other side is Justin Bieber, who would have likely debuted at No. 1 had he released his new single literally any other week. Instead, “Sorry” enters the chart behind Adele, at No. 2. (For comparison, his single was downloaded 277,000 times to Adele’s 1 million–plus.) Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” is also in the Top 10, at No. 5. Sadly, with the additions of new Adele and Bieber, Drake’s “Hotline Bling” got bumped down to No. 3 — but the song’s video is on YouTube and Vevo now, so Drake’s chase for his first solo No. 1 is still alive! At the very least, he can say he beat out his fellow Canadian the Weeknd, whose “The Hills” dropped to No. 4 this week.
