By Stephen Pate – Adele, the British singer-songwriter, broke the record set by American Carole King for the longest running album on the Billboard charts 200 for a female artist.
Adele’s 2nd album simply titled “21” edged past “Tapestry” by hitting 319 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. Carole King’s Tapestry has a record of 318 weeks on the chart.
Carole King is a natural songwriter and a smokey voiced child of the 70’s. Adele is a power ballad singer who takes the roof off when she wants. They are two of the greatest female artists.
Adele and 21
“21 (which is No. 103 on the latest chart) has been on the tally every week since its No. 1 debut on March 12, 2011. The album spent 24 nonconsecutive weeks at the top.” Billboard
Adele’s first album “19” was released in 2008. The album won her first Grammy Award and was still on the Billboard charts when she released “21” three years later.
“21” won many Grammy and British awards and sold 31 million copies worldwide. “21” has gone on the shatter all records for sales of an album by a female artist. It has 5 hit singles – “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone like You”, “Set Fire to the Rain”, “Rumour Has It” and “Turning Tables”.
Rolling in the Deep has been streamed more than 1 billion times on YouTube.
Carole King & Tapestry
Carole King began her career writing songs with her husband Gerry Goffin in the Brill Building in New York City. Their first hit was the rock and roll breakthrough song “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” by The Shirelles, a 1960 Billboard 100 #1 hit.
Her teen marriage ended in the mid-60’s. Later King moved to Los Angeles where she teamed up with the young James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and songwriter Tony Stern. He career, along with Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon is covered in the fascinating book Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–and the Journey of a Generation
Carol King’s first album more or less landed with a thud but her angst filled second in 1971 – Tapestry – was a huge hit as an album and the single “It’s Too Late.” Many people could relate to King’s evocation of the end of the 60’s, relationships, and the 1970’s beginning. Everyone owned a copy of Tapestry in the 1970’s.
The album garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female; Record of the Year (“It’s Too Late,” lyrics by Toni Stern); and Song of the Year, with King becoming the first woman to win the award (“You’ve Got a Friend“). The album appeared on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list at number 36.In addition, “It’s Too Late” was number 469 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Wikipedia
21 by Adele and Tapestry by Carole King are available from iTunes, Apple Music or from Amazon.com. Links are below.
Leave a Reply