"Hello" is a song recorded by British singer-songwriter Adele. It was released on October 23, 2015, by XL Recordings as the first single from her third studio album, 25 (2015). Adele and the album's producer, Greg Kurstin, wrote the song. It is a piano ballad with soul influences, including guitar. The lyrics explore themes of nostalgia and regret. When it was released, the song received high praise from critics, who compared it favorably to Adele's earlier work and praised its lyrics, production, and Adele's singing. It was recorded at Metropolis Studios in London.

"Hello" achieved great success worldwide. The single appeared on charts in 30 countries, a record. In the United Kingdom, it became Adele's second number-one single, following "Someone Like You." It also had the largest opening week sales in three years. In the United States, "Hello" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for ten weeks. It became Adele's fourth number-one single on that chart and broke several records, including being the first song to sell over a million digital copies in a week. By the end of 2015, it had sold 12.3 million units globally, including both sales and streaming counts. It was the seventh best-selling single of the year and remains one of the best-selling digital singles of all time.

The music video for "Hello" was directed by Xavier Dolan and features Adele and Tristan Wilds. It broke records on Vevo and YouTube, reaching 27.7 million views in 24 hours and achieving one billion views in 87 days. The song also broke the iTunes record for being number one in the most countries (102 countries). The music video received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. It also won the Brit Award for British Single and the APRA Award for International Work of the Year.

Writing and composition

The song "Hello" was written by Adele and Greg Kurstin. Kurstin produced the song and played bass, guitar, drums, piano, and keyboards. Adele played drums. The song was written in Chiswick, London, which is unusual for Adele, as she usually writes music at home. The writing process took six months. Adele and Kurstin began writing the first verse and completed half of the song. Six months later, Adele reached out to Kurstin to finish the song. Kurstin mentioned he was unsure if Adele would return to complete it.

"Hello" is a soul piano ballad. It is played in the key of F minor at a tempo of 79 beats per minute. The repeated chord progression in the verse, played by the piano, follows two main progressions and a bridge progression that connects them. Progression #1: Fm(i)–A♭(III)–E♭(VII)–D♭(VI). Passage progression: Fm(i)–E♭(VII)–Cm(v)–D♭(VI)–Fm7(i7)–E♭(VII)–D♭(VI). Progression #2: Fm(i)–D♭/F(VI)–A♭(III)–E♭(VII). According to Musicnotes.com, Adele's vocals range from F3 to A♭5 in the song. During the chorus, Adele sings over layers of backing vocals, piano, and drums. The Daily Telegraph described this as "a very luscious wall of sound."

Lyrically, the song focuses on themes of nostalgia and regret. It was seen as a follow-up to her single "Someone Like You," reflecting on a past relationship. The lyrics are described as conversational, covering "all the relationships of her past," including friends, family members, and ex-partners. Adele explained on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show that the song is about her relationship with everyone she loves, not just an ex-partner. She said it reflects moving on and growing up, with the line "Hello from the other side" representing the transition to adulthood and surviving the challenges of late teens and early twenties.

Release

On 18 October 2015, a 30-second clip of the song "Hello" was shown during a commercial break on The X Factor in the United Kingdom. The commercial introduced a preview of new material, with Adele’s vocals and lyrics displayed on a black screen. Josh Duboff from Vanity Fair wrote that the Internet reacted strongly after the trailer was shown. On 22 October, Adele announced the upcoming release of her album 25 to her fans on Twitter. She also shared that "Hello" would be released on 23 October as the first single from the album. On 23 October, Adele appeared on Nick Grimshaw’s show on BBC Radio 1 for the song’s first public performance.

Critical reception

The song "Hello" received high praise from critics. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said it is "a big ballad, but a better example of this type of song," and noted that the song is "precisely the kind of emotional ballad that made Adele a famous singer." Emily Jupp of The Independent wrote that the song is not groundbreaking but welcomed Adele's return with her familiar, smoky style. She called it an " 'if it ain't broke' ballad" and said Adele sings emotional stories about love and loss, similar to her previous album, 21, but with more self-forgiveness.

Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune wrote that the song's lyrics work best when they focus on personal details, matching Adele's strong and controlled voice. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph called it "a beautiful song about loss and regret," saying it connects with memories listeners have in their hearts. Rolling Stone ranked "Hello" number 6 on its list of the 50 best songs of 2015. Some publications noted that the song's theme and video are similar to "Hello" by American singer Lionel Richie.

In 2021, Parade ranked the song number 12 on its list of the 25 greatest Adele songs. In 2022, American Songwriter ranked it number 3 on its list of the 10 greatest Adele songs.

Chart performance

Three days after its release, the Official Charts Company reported that "Hello" had 165,000 chart sales in the United Kingdom, with 156,000 of those being downloads. The song entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on 30 October 2015, for the week dated 5 November 2015, with 333,000 combined sales, of which 259,000 were downloads. This made it the biggest-selling number-one single on the chart in three years. It was Adele's second UK number-one single, following 2011's "Someone Like You." Additionally, "Hello" was streamed 7.32 million times in its first week, breaking the previous streaming record held by Justin Bieber's "What Do You Mean?" Including streaming sales and excluding The X Factor and Pop Idol winners' singles, major charity campaign records, and Christmas number ones, "Hello" was the second biggest-selling number-one single of the 21st century in the UK, surpassed only by Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me," which sold 345,000 copies in a week in February 2001. The following week, the song remained at number one after selling an additional 121,000 downloads and was streamed 5.78 million times. That same week, the song was certified Gold by the BPI. On 20 May 2016, it spent its 30th week in the UK Top 100. As of November 2016, the song had sold 918,700 units in pure sales.

The song also debuted at number one in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland.

In Australia, "Hello" entered at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart on 31 October 2015, selling over 59,075 units, which earned the song a gold certification in its first week. It became the second fastest-selling single of the year, behind Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again." It marked Adele's second number-one single on the ARIA Singles Chart, following 2011's "Someone Like You." The single stayed atop the chart for a second week and was certified platinum after selling over 70,000 units. On 20 March 2017, "Hello" re-entered the chart at number 50 and has since been certified 7× platinum for sales over 490,000 units. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number one on the New Zealand Singles Chart, held the position the following week, and was certified platinum.

In the United States, "Hello" debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 November 2015, for the chart dated 14 November 2015, becoming only the 24th song to debut at number one. It started at number 49 on the Radio Songs chart after three days of release. In its first full week of airplay, it rose from 45 to 9, increasing by 146% to 70 million all-format audience impressions. The track started at number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with a record 20.4 million on-demand streams, becoming Adele's first number-one song on that chart. "Hello" entered at the top of the Digital Songs chart with sales of 1,112,000, becoming the first track to sell over one million digital copies in a single week and nearly doubling the previous record for the most downloads sold in a week, which was held by Flo Rida's "Right Round," with 636,000 downloads in the week ending 28 February 2009. "Hello" began with 61.6 million US streams, becoming Adele's first number-one song on the Streaming Songs chart and the second greatest weekly total on that chart, behind Baauer's "Harlem Shake," which had 103 million streams in the week of 3 March 2013. "Hello" is the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a single week and the third highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Only Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight" has sold more in a single week, with 3.446 million copies in its opening week and 1.212 million copies in its second week.

In its second week, "Hello" stayed at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling an additional 635,000 digital copies, marking the third-best digital sales week and the highest for a non-debut week. It also held the top position on the Streaming Songs chart with 47.4 million US streams, a 23% decrease from 61.6 million in its first week. The track remained at number one on the On-Demand Songs chart with 18.1 million streams. On the Radio Songs chart, "Hello" moved from 9 to 6, increasing by 46% to 106 million all-format audience impressions, becoming the top Airplay Gainer on the Hot 100. The track also moved from two to one on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart and from nine to four on the Adult Contemporary format. The following week, the song stayed at the top of the Hot 100 and Digital Songs chart, selling 480,000 downloads and becoming the third song to sell over 400,000 copies for three straight weeks. "Hello" also rose from 6 to 1 on the Radio Songs chart in its fourth week, marking the greatest leap to number one on the chart's 25-year history and the quickest climb to number one on the chart in 22 years, since Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" reached the top in its fourth week on 28 August 1993. Additionally, "Hello" became the third song to top the Hot 100, Digital Songs, Streaming Songs, On-Demand Songs, and Radio Songs charts simultaneously in the nearly three years all five charts had coexisted. "Hello" remained atop the Hot 100 for ten consecutive weeks, becoming only the 31st No. 1 in the Hot 100's history to reign for at least 10 weeks and the fourth for

Accolades

At the 36th Brit Awards, Adele was nominated for five awards and won four, including British Single of the Year for "Hello." At the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, she was nominated for nine categories and won five, including Top Selling Song for "Hello." At the 2016 Juno Awards, Xavier Dolan won Video of the Year for "Hello." Adele received four American Music Awards nominations, including Favorite Pop/Rock Song for "Hello" at the 2016 American Music Awards but lost to "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber. At the 59th Grammy Awards, Adele won five awards, including Album of the Year for 25, while "Hello" won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. Adele is the first artist in Grammy history to win all three major awards—Album, Record, and Song of the Year—twice. She is also the first woman in Grammy history to win Song of the Year twice. This marks the first time in Grammy history that two different songs with the same title, "Hello," were nominated in the same category after Lionel Richie's "Hello" in 1985. Adele became the third woman to win Record of the Year more than once, following Roberta Flack and Norah Jones, who won for The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly with His Song; and Don't Know Why and Here We Go Again (with Ray Charles), respectively. Additionally, Florence LaRue and Marilyn McCoo both won Record of the Year twice as part of The 5th Dimension for "Up, Up and Away" and "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In."

Music video

The music video for "Hello" was directed by Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan and released on 23 October 2015. The song was released as a single the next day. The video's story follows a young woman who has recently ended a relationship and calls her younger self. Some parts of the video, including the final scene on a pond and the opening shot of her waking up, were filmed using IMAX cameras. This made it the first music video created in IMAX format. The video was inspired by Dolan's first film, I Killed My Mother, which he made when he was 20 years old. Filming took place on a farm in Quebec over four days in September 2015.

The video features American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele asked him to be in the video after an unspecified event involving police in the United States. She wanted to avoid casting a white male as her love interest to address tensions between law enforcement and the Black community. Dolan explained the video's concept to Wilds through Skype, and Wilds agreed to participate. During filming, Adele and Wilds were encouraged to improvise and use memories from past relationships to express emotions. Dolan also filmed scenes of them talking and laughing. The video, shown in a brownish tone, includes Adele singing in a small house and a forest, along with scenes of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to her past relationship with Wilds' character.

The flip phone Adele uses in the video was noted for its retro style. Dolan explained that he avoided filming with iPhones because they reminded him of everyday life. He wanted viewers to escape into a story rather than see technology. The "Hello" video set a record by reaching over 27.7 million views in its first 24 hours, surpassing Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" video. It later broke Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" record for reaching 100 million views in five days. The phrase "Adele hello" was the top YouTube search term on Friday and Saturday. The video earned about 1 million views per hour during its first two days, peaking at 1.6 million in one hour, which was higher than the peak for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer. The video was also parodied in a Thanksgiving-themed sketch on Saturday Night Live.

In 2020, the video was the 30th most viewed on YouTube, with over 2.8 billion views. It was also the 26th most liked video in 2015, with more than 17 million likes. The video holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach 1 billion views, achieved in 87 days.

Live performances

Adele first performed "Hello" live during a special one-hour BBC show titled Adele at the BBC, which was recorded on 2 November 2015 and aired on BBC One on 20 November 2015. She also sang the song at the 17th NRJ Music Awards on 7 November 2015, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 17 November 2015 as her opening performance (Adele Live in New York City), and on Saturday Night Live on 21 November 2015. On 23 November 2015, after appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Adele recorded the song with Fallon and his band, The Roots, using classroom instruments. This version was shown on the show the next day. On 13 December 2015, Adele performed "Hello" during the X Factor live final at The SSE Arena, Wembley.

Cover versions

• In 2015, American singer Demi Lovato performed a cover of "Hello" at the 106.1 KISS FM Fall Ball in Seattle, Washington, on November 14. Her version received praise from critics and was later nominated for "Best Cover Song" at the 3rd iHeartRadio Music Awards in 2016.
• In December 2015, the Washington, D.C.-based go-go band Backyard Band released a cover of the song. This version became very popular in the area after its release.
• In December 2015, Claudio Sanchez of the American progressive metal band Coheed & Cambria shared an acoustic cover of the song on YouTube. Critics described this version as "haunting."
• During New Year's Eve 2015, Canadian singer Celine Dion performed a cover of "Hello" at her residency show in Las Vegas.
• The operatic pop group Il Divo released a Spanish language version of the song titled "Hola" in 2018. This version was included in the group's album Timeless, and a related music video was also released.
• On June 24, 2022, Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne released a cover of the song as part of her Spotify Singles release.
• On July 24, 2021, the Swedish-British symphonic metal band Torn Between Two Worlds released their version of the song as a download. It was later included on the EP As If We Never Existed on June 3, 2022.
• In July 2024, "Weird Al" Yankovic included the song in his polka medley "Polkamania!"

Credits and personnel

• Main singer, supporting singer, and drums – Adele
• Writing the song, playing bass, drums, guitar, piano, and keyboards – Greg Kurstin
• Combining sounds – Tom Elmhirst
• Recording the music – Julian Burg
• Final sound quality – Randy Merrill
• Extra instruments – Emile Haynie