SLY is one of the most important songs of the past couple years. It's literally the reason songs like AOM, When I Was Your Man, Stay, Stay With Me, Say Something, etc. were allowed to smash post-2011. Piano ballads were pretty much guaranteed flops up until then. She revived that entire sub-genre of pop on the Hot 100.
RITD & SLY were collectively the most important singles of the 2010s... RITD for starting Adele fever and accelerating the "real music" trend, and SLY for taking that even further with the piano ballad trend.
Somebody that I Used to Know & We Are Young were accepted by pop so well in 2012 thanks to the help of RITD warming up Top 40 to that kind of sound (alt-pop "real music1" kind of pop), and from there the rest is history.
Watch someone tries to name "Unfaithful," "Take a Bow" and "Need You Now" - all that consisted more than a piano and a vocal and were sporadic hits and smaller hits than SLY. Adele's impact is real.
SFTTR is still wonderful. Has always been my fav Adele single.
We'll see. Katy can't even dance
Like I don't think Paula Abdul has had as many hits as Katy Perry, performed at the Superbowl, etc. Katy might fade (all artists do), but that doesn't mean her career mirrors Paula's.
Set Fire to the Rain is my favorite too. It's a shame it's kind of overlooked compared to the other two, but that's only because of her not treating it right. If she'd been more aggressive with promotion + filmed a good video, I imagine there was a possibility it could've outsold SLY + maybe sold 7 million. I can't remember its actual sales now but I think it passed 5 M.
Watch someone tries to name "Unfaithful," "Take a Bow" and "Need You Now" - all that consisted more than a piano and a vocal and were sporadic hits and smaller hits than SLY. Adele's impact is real.
Songs like NYN that defy genre boundaries, have a prominent backing beat, and appeal to AC will always smash regardless of trend.
Set Fire to the Rain is my favorite too. It's a shame it's kind of overlooked compared to the other two, but that's only because of her not treating it right. If she'd been more aggressive with promotion + filmed a good video, I imagine there was a possibility it could've outsold SLY + maybe sold 7 million. I can't remember its actual sales now but I think it passed 5 M.
How much has SLY sold? Did it pass 6 M?
I think SFTTR is closer to 4.7 million and SLY is around 5.8 million.
RITD is eligible for Diamond. I think SLY is, too.
Daydreamer, Right As Rain >
