Adele’s ‘Hello’ Headed For No.1: Will She Join Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, And Britney Spears In Chart Achievement?

Adele’s hot new single “Hello” could match a rare achievement by debuting at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard has the news.

“As previously reported, the ballad could achieve the biggest digital sales week ever, following its Oct. 23 debut. With its official video released the same day, and following a full first week of radio airplay, the lead single from Adele’s Nov. 20 album 25 is set for a potential No. 1 Hot 100 bow next week.”

“Hello” has garnered some excellent reviews for Adele. Redbrick says other big-named stars should be scared of Adele.

“Her gorgeous, husky tones and huge vocals take us back to the Adele we fell in love with all those years ago, however the lyrics are a far cry from those that we may be used to. Gone are the times where Adele’s songs would be the go-to when we were needing a good cry into a pillow, eating ice cream from the tub. This track is about making up and moving on.”

Alex Petridis of The Guardian was also thrilled with Adele’s new single.

“The first track from Adele’s new album is with us. And guess what? It’s a big ballad, but a superior example of its kind.”

Petridis adds that “Hello” sounds so good that it could have easily been on the album 21. He believes nobody can write (or sing) a heartbreak ballad like Adele. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune refers to “Hello” as a safe balancing act.

“It slowly builds to something bigger but never quite trips into bombast — Adele seems to have a knack for knowing just how far to push emotional buttons and then let up before things slide into melodramatic mush. Lyrics that work best when they zoom in on personal details match her combination of vocal power and restraint,” Kot claims.

Many on Twitter have shown their approval of the song.

People are just as impressed with the video for “Hello” as they are the song. The consensus seems to be that the video is honest, raw, and a huge tearjerker.

“Shots of a flip phone and vine-covered payphone are, perhaps, too on the nose, but Dolan’s use of diegetic sound—from the steam rising from a tea kettle to conversations between the characters—and Adele’s commanding performance smartly render the clip worthy of repeat viewings,” says Slant Magazine‘s Sal Cinquemani.

The director of Adele’s “Hello” clip, Xavier Dolan, told People that the video uses an outdated flip phone instead of something like an iPhone because he didn’t want to distract from the video by making it look like an iPhone commercial. He says the purpose of the clip is to make the viewer misty-eyed. He realizes, judging from the comments on Twitter, that his formula has worked.

Adele’s upcoming album 25 will be released on November 20 and it stands at breaking the record for the most albums ever sold in a one-week period. Her last album, 21, has sold over 30 million copies and did this in an age where people don’t buy albums as much as they used to. It looks like Adele can definitely overthrow Taylor Swift to become, once again, the hottest musical act in the world.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]