t took more than half a year to get there, but Adele’s record-breaking third album 25 is now finally available via on-demand streaming services.
The album is believed to be close to 20m sales worldwide, according to MBW sources, having shifted more than 17m copies last calendar year alone.
Clearly, Adele and her team – including September Management, plus labels Beggars/XL and Sony/Columbia – believe now is the right time to open the album up to a wider listening base through the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.
The news of 25’s surprise arrival on Spotify was revealed by listeners in New Zealand and Australia, where it is currently ‘tomorrow’ (June 24) for the UK and US.
This indicates that 25 will land on these and other streaming services on Friday morning in each territory.
When MBW crunched the numbers of 25’s astonishing performance at retail last year, we estimated that the LP generated around $115m at UK and US retail in its opening six weeks.
That figure was the equivalent of around 16bn streams on Spotify; or, to put it another way, over two streams for every person on the planet.
During the promo run for 25, Adele admitted she wasn’t the biggest fan of streaming as a tool to listen to music.
She told TIME Magazine in December: “For me, all albums that come out, I’m excited about leading up to release day.
“I don’t use streaming. I buy my music. I download it, and I buy a physical [copy] just to make up for the fact that someone else somewhere isn’t. It’s a bit disposable, streaming.”
“I know that streaming music is the future, but it’s not the only way to consume music… I can’t pledge allegiance to something that I don’t know how I feel about yet.”Music Business Worldwide
