25 was the world's best-selling album of the year for 2015, with 17.4 million copies sold within the year, and has gone on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth-best selling album of the 21st century, the second-best selling album of the 2010s (behind 21), and one of the best-selling albums of all-time. In the US, the album sold over 3.38 million copies in its first week of sales, marking the largest single-week sales for an album since Luminate Data began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991. 25 became a massive commercial success, debuting at number one in 32 countries and breaking first-week sales records in multiple countries, including the United Kingdom and United States.

Issued nearly five years after the release of her second album, the internationally successful 21, the album was widely anticipated and Adele's record labels promoted the album with an extensive marketing campaign. Like when recording 21 (2011), Adele worked with producer and songwriter Paul Epworth and Ryan Tedder, along with new collaborations with Max Martin and Shellback, Bruno Mars, Greg Kurstin, Danger Mouse, the Smeezingtons, Samuel Dixon, and Tobias Jesso Jr.Ģ5 received generally positive reviews from music critics, who commended its production and Adele's vocal performance. In contrast to Adele's previous works, the production of 25 incorporated the use of electronic elements and creative rhythmic patterns, with elements of 1980s R&B and organs. Its lyrical content features themes of Adele 'yearning for her old self, her nostalgia', and 'melancholia about the passage of time' according to an interview with the singer by Rolling Stone, as well as themes of motherhood and regret. The album is titled as a reflection of her life and frame of mind at 25 years old and is termed a 'make-up record'. 25 is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 20 November 2015 by XL Recordings and Columbia Records.

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