Who’s the most powerful woman in pop music? Until a month ago, the answer was easy: Taylor Swift. But with the record-breaking sales of her latest album, “25,” Adele is making a strong case for herself. She broke the record, held by ‘NSync since 2000, in just four days selling 2.433 million albums. While Swift’s “1989” album, sold just 1.287 million copies in its first week, Adele’s “25” sold 3.38 million copies in its first week.
New York-based radio host Ralphie Aversa explained Adele is in her own league in the music industry.
“Certainly from an album sales perspective, Adele is in a league of her own,” he explained. “But it's tough to compare the artists: Swift is younger and took a different career path to pop stardom; Adele was sidelined with vocal cord issues and took time away from the spotlight to have a child.”
Swift’s star studded “Bad Blood” music video earned about 20 million viewers in its first day, but Adele shattered Swift’s record with 27.7 million views to her “Hello” video in its first day.
In 2015, Swift’s killer “squad”—which includes stars like Selena Gomez, Lily Aldridge, Karlie Kloss and Ellie Goulding— had social media hooked, and news stories popped up each time the famous friends posted photos together. However, after Adele’s album release she proved she has her own celebrity squad, which includes Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson.
Cate Meighan, a pop culture expert, breaks down the differences between the pop sensations and what makes each successful.
“I think that Swift is kind of the equivalent to the all-American girl, you kind of want to be like her, and if you're a parent then you can easily view her as a good role model for your daughters to emulate,” she explained. “Adele is simply that grown woman that gets ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ may be. Not only does she get it, but then she turns it into a song that most of us connect to. Having the ability to form a real emotional connection with 20 and 40-year-olds alike is an unbelievably tough task and yet that's exactly what Adele does every time out.”
Pop culture guru Lisa Durden believes there’s no competition between Adele and Swift.
“(Swift is) packaged to the max: body, hair, clothes, songs, all come together very well,” she said. “I'll even throw in the fact that she can entertain. But unlike her, Adele’s voice can compete with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Patti Label, and the late great Whitney Houston. The only place Taylor could achieve that kind of vocal excellence is in her dreams.”
Judging by the numbers alone, Durden may be correct.
Google just announced the 10 most searched song lyrics for 2015.Adelecame in at number one with “Hello” and Swift came in third place with “Blank Space.”
This year when Swift was on tour, she created a frenzy of excitement for concert goers as she brought along almost every one of her celebrity friends to come onstage and sing along. Mick Jagger, Wiz Khalifa and even Ellen Degeneres were just a few that walked the Swift stage. Swift also released the “1989 World Tour Live” to Apple Music on Sunday.
And now as Adele prepares for her upcoming shows, concert tickets are a rare commodity. Tickets went on sale last week and sold out in minutes. Scalpers are selling her tickets for online— Ebay has tickets for $48,000, StubHub has some for $11,000 and Craigslist has them from anywhere from $7,000 to $9,000.
Adele fans were disappointed and frustrated with how quickly the tickets sold out.
Meighan sees neither Swift nor Adele going anywhere in the near future.
“Neither woman is going to disappear from the pop music canvas (unless they want to) but I think Adele definitely is wearing the crown.”
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