Is there anything Adele can't do? Her highly anticipated new album, 25, is poised to make sales record history (sorry not sorry, *NSYNC), her performance on Saturday Night Live was mesmerizing, and her recent impersonation prank proved that she has not only an impressive set of pipes, but also one hell of a great sense of humor. And now, as illegal downloading of media — from music to movies to television shows — is more prolific than ever, Adele has done the seemingly impossible: Successfully stopped fans from stealing her music online.
According to a new study from Musixmatch, Google searches for “adele 25 lyrics” was two times higher than searches for "adele 25 torrent" and "adele 25 youtube" on the album’s release date. The fact that her new album remains unavailable on all streaming services aside from Pandora could be a contributing factor; it has certainly been credited with helping to spike the album's truly impressive sales figures, which reached more than 900,000 on iTunes on its first day alone.
Adele is also known for her ultimately relatable, often heart-wrenching lyrics, and that can make a higher-than-average amount of searches for her wise words understandable — for example: “But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore” from "Hello" or “We gotta let go of all of our ghosts / We both know we ain't kids no more” from “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)." (Admit it: You want to read the rest of the lyrics from 25 now, don't you? Don't you? Here you go. Don't say we never did anything for you.)
Either way, considering that the Recording Industry Association of America reports that music sales in the U.S. have dropped 47%, from $14.6 billion to $7.7 billion since file sharing began in earnest with the advent of Napster in 1999, Adele's high sales and low illegal download numbers are truly impressive. Even Taylor Swift would be proud.
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