Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts. Adele’s latest blockbuster was responsible for 3% of all albums sold in 2015.

In 2015, Adele released her “25” album. It sold 3.38 million copies in its first week of release in the U.S., setting a record for first-week sales.

However, Adele's sales figures are significantly lower than those of her previous album 25, released in 2015. That album, her third, opened with 800,000 first-week sales, which means 30 has sold ...

"When We Were Young," which came off Adele's 2015 album, 25, was no different from the rest of her songs in that it was a ...