And I wouldn’t mind listening to both.
Like Jophiel pointed out, it’s a big difference comparing albums that have been out for years compared to one that just came out a few weeks ago. Check back in a few months and 25 will have sold a lot more than just the 3 million copies it’s sold so far.
I agree with this. There are definitely some other musicians in Adele’s vein that could be pushed with the right marketing team. Then that buyer who buys two albums a year, could buy one more album. But no matter how the music industry changes, or what musicians are found and promoted, nothing is going to change that one or two albums a year person into a 10 or 20 albums a year person. Some people just aren’t as into music. Or their tastes have solidified, and so they are happy enough listening to their old Alanis Morrisette albums and aren’t looking for new music. Or they kept up with music when they were younger because it’s how you stay cool, but don’t care about that as much past a certain point.
It’s a figure of speech that means something very much opposed to what Adele actually is.
She won a Grammy for 19, which was released in January 2008, so actually almost exactly 8 years now.
What way is that? (I’m assuming from your Nora Jones name that you don’t hold these artists in high regard)
I’m guessing a large amount of Jagged Little Pill sales from the last decade are 90’s buyers repurchasing it digitally. Perhaps spurred by the little bit of extra press the 20th year anniversary got. I’d be surprised if a significant number of first time buyers are in that club.
I wouldn’t say that about Gwen Stefani or Charli XCX. They’re superstars now, but they succeeded through hard work, talent, and persistence. Both of them struggled for years before making it. And neither of them is known for autotune. Charli XCX had two hard commercial flops before succeeding, which is two more than a marketing exec would have stuck around for.
Adele is the most successful of the generic crop of British MOR “blue eyed soul” songstresses that came in the wake of the late Amy Winehouse.
I think key to its success is the fact that Adele appeals to people over 30 who are still in the habit of buying the occasional CD or DVD, especially as a birthday/christmas present.
I’m not entirely sure that ANYONE would consider Lana Del Ray to be ‘generic’. I mean a massive part of her appeal is that there is no one like her out there in mainstream music.
Amy Winehouse’s sound was also fairly different than the norm when she was popular.
Similar applies to Taylor Swift. She succeeded through her own hard work and songwriting abilities.
I’m not sure what the word ‘generic’ means. Is there any successful musical artist I couldn’t apply the word to?
I suspect when people say ‘generic’ they mean she sings well, like all those other successful musical artists.
I’d say that the music industry’s near-comatose condition has a lot to do with Adele’s huge success. Rock music has been fading for years, and now hip-hop is starting to fade as well, but so far nothing is coming up to replace them.
The result for Adele is, she really doesn’t have a lot of competition. Years ago, she’d still be a respectible success, but there would be so many other top-notch choices that she wouldn’t be the huge success she is.
Plenty of artists aren’t considered generic as, in their time, there was no-one similar or comparable. In Adele’s case there are several other artists that have enjoyed popularity with similar origins.styles that she can be compared to, Duffy, aforementioned Amy Winehouse, Pixie Lott, and lots of others who are nowhere near as successful.
I suspect a sizeable fraction of all music purchases have always been spurred by changing formats. People bought records, then a few decades later they bought cassettes of those same records. Then they bought CDs of those same cassettes. And now they’re buying digital versions of those same CDs. (Along the way, some people got sidetracked into 8-tracks, minidisks, and other failed formats, adding even more sales of the same songs.)
I can’t think of any musical artist for whom I couldn’t find similar-sounding musical artists (except maybe Captain Beefheart, who I don’t really enjoy listening to). In fact we have a word for the similarity: Genre.
That’s kind of how I feel. I’m ambivalent towards the music of Taylor Swift, Adele or Gwen Stefani but I can recognize them at a listen, even if it’s a new song. I figure anyone I can musically pick out of a crowd can’t be “generic”. I could pick out some of the others listed as well but I listen to them intentionally.
On the other hand, play me a random song by Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato or one of the other similar songbirds from their genre and I wouldn’t break random chance in matching artist to song.
I always took “generic” to be closer to its meaning in medicine. I take it to mean a copy that’s the same as everyone else in the genre, with nothing different to set them apart.
Like when I’ve heard of people talk about a generic Taylor Swift album–they mean it could have just as easily been done by someone else with no decrease in quality.
I would not apply it to Adele. She doesn’t quite sound like anyone out there today. And that’s not even a compliment: I don’t really like her voice.
There’s a ton of pretty young female singers out there trying and wishing to be the next Taylor Swift. None of them have Swift’s sack of awards and cash. There’s a reason for that.
This was also true for that Hootie & The Blowfish album that broke sales records all over the world in the mid 1990s. “Cracked Rear View”, I think it was called.
Record store clerks all over told the same story over and over again, and I’m going to use an obsolete word, but keep in mind that it’s also being used with the greatest respect. When they opened up the store, there would often be elderly people, often couples, who had been walking at the mall in the early mornings, and they would say, “We just got back from visiting our grandchildren, and they like this really good colored singer named Hootie. Do you have any of his records?” 
I got it a couple years later, secondhand, and IMNSHO the songs on the radio were good and rest of it was just kind of there.
ETA: Also, Adele can actually sing and does not need Auto Tune.
I guess having the #1 album in the US, Canada and New Zealand is sorta all over the world, but I think you are overstating the popularity a bit.