Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on 5 May 1988 in the

2015–2017: 25 and Adele Live 2016
On the eve of her 26th birthday in May 2014, Adele posted a cryptic message via her Twitter account which prompted media discussion about her next album. The message, "Bye bye 25... See you again later in the year," was interpreted by some in the media, including Capital FM, as meaning that her next album would be titled 25 and released later in the year.^[108] In 2014, Adele was nominated for nine World Music Awards. In early August, Paul Moss suggested that an album would be released in 2014 or 2015.^[109] However, in the October 2014 accounts filed with Companies House by XL Recordings, they ruled out a 2014 release.^[110]

Adele singing in St. Paul during her first North American tour in five years in July 2016. Ten million people attempted to purchase tickets for the North American leg of Adele's world tour. Only 750,000 tickets were available.^[111]
On 27 August 2015, Billboard reported that Adele's label, XL Recordings, had intentions of releasing her third studio album sometime in November 2015.^[112] Danger Mouse was revealed to have contributed a song, while Tobias Jesso Jr. had written a track, and Ryan Tedder was "back in the mix after producing and co-writing 'Rumour Has It' on 21."^[112] At the 72nd Venice International Film Festival in early September 2015, Sia announced that her new single "Alive" was co-written by Adele, and had originally been intended for Adele's third album.^[113] On 18 October, a 30-second clip of new material from Adele was shown on UK television during a commercial break on The X Factor. The commercial teases a snippet from a new song from her third album, with viewers hearing a voice singing accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.^[114]
In a statement released three days later, Adele confirmed the album's title to be 25, with her stating, "My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who I've become without realising. And I'm sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened."^[115] Adele also believes 25 will be her last album titled after her age, believing it would be the end to a trilogy.^[116] On 22 October, Adele confirmed that 25 would be released on 20 November, while the lead single from the album, "Hello" would be released on 23 October.^[117] The song was first played on Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 Breakfast Show on the BBC on the morning of 23 October with Adele interviewed live.^[118] The video of "Hello", released on 22 October, was viewed over 27.7 million times on YouTube in its first 24 hours, breaking the Vevo record for the most views in a day, surpassing the 20.1 million views for "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift.^[119] On 28 October, BBC News reported that "Hello" was being viewed on YouTube an average one million times an hour.^[120] "Hello" went on to become the fastest video to hit one billion views on YouTube, which it achieved after 88 days.^[121] The video for "Hello" captured iconic British elements such as a red telephone box and a cup of tea.^[122] The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 30 October, with first week sales of 330,000 copies, making it the biggest-selling number one single in three years.^[123] "Hello" also debuted at number one in many countries around the world, including Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany, and on 2 November, the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first song in the US to sell at least one million downloads in a week, setting the record at 1.11 million.^[124] By the end of 2015, it had sold 12.3 million units globally and was the year's 7th best-selling single despite being released in late October.^[125]
On 27 October, BBC One announced plans for Adele at the BBC, a one-hour special presented by Graham Norton, in which Adele talks about her new album and performs new songs.^[126] This was her first television appearance since performing at the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, and the show was recorded before a live audience on 2 November for broadcast on 20 November, coinciding with the release of 25.^[127] On 27 October it was also announced that Adele would appear on the US entertainment series Saturday Night Live on 21 November.^[126][128] On 30 October, Adele confirmed that she would be performing a one-night-only concert titled Adele Live in New York City at the Radio City Music Hall on 17 November. Subsequently, NBC aired the concert special on 14 December.^[129][130]
On 27 November, 25 debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the fastest selling album in UK chart history with over 800,000 copies sold in its first week.^[131] The album debuted at number one in the US where it sold a record-breaking 3.38 million copies in its first week, the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began monitoring sales in 1991.^[132] 25 also broke first week sales records in Canada and New Zealand.^[133][134] 25 became the best-selling album of 2015 in a number of countries, including Australia, the UK and the US, spending seven consecutive weeks at number one in each country, before being displaced by David Bowie's Blackstar.^{[135][136][137]} It was the best-selling album worldwide of 2015 with 17.4 million copies sold.^[125] 25 has since sold 20 million copies globally.^[138] Adele's seven weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart took her total to 31 weeks at number one in the UK with her three albums, surpassing Madonna's previous record of most weeks at number one for a female act.^[139] As the best-selling artist worldwide for 2015 the IFPI named Adele the Global Recording Artist of the Year.^[140]

Adele on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury in 2016. Having been going to the festival since she was a child, an emotional Adele cried before she went on stage to 150,000 people.^[141]
In November 2015, Adele's 2016 tour was announced, her first tour since 2011.^[142] Beginning in Europe, Adele Live 2016 included four dates at the Manchester Arena in March 2016, six dates at the O2 Arena, London, with further dates in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands among others.^[143] Her North American Tour began on 5 July in St. Paul, Minnesota.^[144] The leg included six nights at Madison Square Garden in New York City, eight nights at Staples Center in Los Angeles, and four nights at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.^[145] Adele broke Taylor Swift's five-show record for most consecutive sold-out shows at the Staples Center.^[146]
At the 2016 Brit Awards in London on 24 February, Adele received the awards for British Female Solo Artist, British Album of the Year for 25, British Single of the Year for "Hello", and British Global Success, bringing her Brit Award wins to eight.^[147] She closed the ceremony by performing "When We Were Young", the second single from 25.^[147] Two more singles from 25 were released in 2016: "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" and "Water Under the Bridge". While on stage at London's O₂ Arena on 17 March, Adele announced that she would be headlining on the Pyramid Stage at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival, which was later confirmed by the festival's organisers.^[148] She appeared for a 90-minute fifteen song set at the festival on 25 June in front of 150,000 people, and described the experience as "by far, the best moment of my life so far".^[149][150] In an interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 around 30-minutes before going on stage, Adele had said she had been going to Glastonbury since she was a child and that the festival had meant a lot to her, before she broke down. Whiley recalls, "She was really scared, really, really scared. We were doing the interview and at one point she had to stop as she was in tears. It was amazing to see somebody like that, then to witness her walking out on stage and doing the most incredible set. To know that half an hour before she’d been in tears at the thought of walking out there."^[141]

Adele performing at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia, March 2017
As part of her world tour, in February and March 2017, Adele performed in Australia for the first time, playing outdoor stadiums around the country.^[151] Her first two shows in New Zealand sold out in a record-breaking 23 minutes, and a third show was announced, with all tickets sold in under 30 minutes.^[152] Adele sold over 600,000 tickets for her record-breaking eight date Australian tour, setting stadium records throughout the country; her Sydney show at ANZ Stadium on 10 March was seen by 95,000 people, the biggest single concert in Australian history, a record she broke the following night with more than 100,000 fans.^[153] Adele completed her world tour with two concerts, dubbed "The Finale", at Wembley Stadium, London on 28 and 29 June.^[154] She announced the shows at "the home of football" by singing the England football team's "Three Lions" anthem and also the theme song to the BBC's weekly Premier League football show Match of the Day.^[154] Adele had added another two concerts at Wembley after the first two dates sold out,^[155] however she cancelled the last two dates of the tour after damaging her vocal cords.^[156] As a show of support, fans instead gathered outside Wembley Stadium to perform renditions of her songs, in an event titled "Sing for Adele".^[157]
At the end of 2016, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year for the third time,^[158] and also received the Top Billboard 200 album.^[159] 25 was the best-selling album for a second consecutive year in the US.^[160] With 235 million views, Adele's Carpool Karaoke through the streets of London with James Corden, a sketch which featured on Corden's talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden in January 2016, was the biggest YouTube viral video of 2016.^[161] At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2017, Adele won all five of her nominations, bringing her number of awards to fifteen. She won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for 25, and Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Hello".^[162] She also performed a tribute to the late George Michael singing the rendition of his song "Fastlove"; due to technical difficulties which occurred during the performance, Adele decided to stop and restart, explaining "I can't mess this up for him".^[163]
As announced on 31 July 2017, Adele switched performance rights management in the United States from BMI to SESAC.^[164]