She could have released in any of the other quarters but she didn't. There really was no other competition this year until the fourth quarter rolled around. And I think industry insiders knew Adele was coming. That's why Selena, Demi, Carrie, 5SOS and 1D all released within close proximity of each other so that they weren't overshadowed.
Rihanna should have released the album in July after BBHMM video was releas+ed
Lord I just came back on ATRL after 12 hours and two horrible things already happened.. no album and no performance
Imagine an album being released a year after the lead single
JUST RELEASE IT! who cares if it goes #1 or not it's not that important
I just want to hear the music. At this point there's not much she can do to make it sell that well no matter when she releases it unless she has a huge single up her sleeve.