“Sorry,” Justin Bieber; you’re just no match for Adele.
The British singer’s piano-driven tune “Hello” soared to No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in its debut week, besting the debut of Bieber’s “Sorry,” which premiered at No . 2.
While that might at first seem like a tight race, the numbers tell a different story. “Hello” logged a staggering 1.11 million downloads in its first week, a record for the most downloads in a single week, according to Billboard. Those numbers nearly double the previous record, set by Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” which earned 636,000 downloads in a single week in February 2009.
Bieber’s “Sorry,” by contrast, logged a relatively anemic 277,000 downloads in its first week.
If it’s any consolation to the Biebs, his previous single “What Do You Mean?” — which debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart with its September release — is still lingering in the Top 5, taking the fifth slot after slipping from No 3 to No. 5.
Record-setting numbers are becoming a trend for Adele’s “Hello.” As reported last week, the video for the track amassed 27.2 million views on Vevo on its first day of release, toppling the previous record held by the video for Taylor Swift‘s “Bad Blood,” which racked up 20.1 million views in its first 24 hours back in May.
