--- description: The singer earned six Grammys, including Album of the Year title: Adele's '21' Named Greatest Album of All Time by Billboard image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8e9c623273c7188/698871260b72e32fd86e6d36/adele3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Adele's _21_ Named Greatest Album of All Time by Billboard by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 15, 2015 3:30 AM CUT  British singer Adele performs the song "Skyfall" from the film "Skyfall," at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, in this file photo taken February 24, 2013\. Adele smashed records with her comeback single "Hello", selling more than 1.1 million digital songs in the first week and becoming the first song ever to break the 1 million download mark on the Billboard charts. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/Files British singer Adele performs the song "Skyfall" from the film "Skyfall," at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, in this file photo taken February 24, 2013\. Adele smashed records with her comeback single "Hello", selling more than 1.1 million digital songs in the first week and becoming the first song ever to break the 1 million download mark on the Billboard charts. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/FilesMario Anzuoni—Reuters by [Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 15, 2015 3:30 AM CUT Rumor has it [Adele’s _21_](http://www.ew.com/article/2012/02/14/adele-rumour-has-it-single-ryan-tedder "undefined") is the greatest album of all time, at least according to _Billboard_. The magazine’s Billboard 200 album chart announced the recognition this week based on the work’s chart position. “Adele’s blockbuster _21_ tops the Billboard 200’s all-time albums ranking, fueled not only by the set’s 24 nonconsecutive weeks atop the list (the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by a woman), but also its lengthy chart run in the upper reaches of the tally,” according to a post on [_Billboard_](http://www.billboard.com/articles/events/greatest-of-all-time/6760797/adele-the-beatles-billboard-200-albums-artists-all-time "undefined"). Coming in second on the Billboard 200 list was the soundtrack to _Sound of Music_, while Michael Jackson’s _Thriller_ came in third. _21_ is Adele’s second studio album, which debuted in 2011\. Bolstered by hits like “Rolling in the Deep” and “Set Fire to the Rain,” the singer [earned six Grammys](http://www.ew.com/article/2012/02/12/grammys-2012-the-full-list-of-winners "undefined"), including Album of the Year. Now, Adele continues her chart-topping reign as her latest single [continues to break records](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/29/adele-hello-music-videos-records "undefined"). Perhaps she’ll be saying “Hello” to even more Grammy wins in the future. [_This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/14/adele-21-named-greatest-album-all-time-billboard "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4113493/adele-21-album-billboard/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4113493/adele-21-album-billboard/"},"headline":"Adele's 21 Named Greatest Album of All Time by Billboard","datePublished":"2015-11-15T03:30:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:38:11.169Z","description":"The singer earned six Grammys, including Album of the Year","url":"https://time.com/4113493/adele-21-album-billboard/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8e9c623273c7188/698871260b72e32fd86e6d36/adele3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nick Romano / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8e9c623273c7188/698871260b72e32fd86e6d36/adele3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"British singer Adele performs the song \"Skyfall\" at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood","caption":"British singer Adele performs the song \"Skyfall\" at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood","creditText":"Mario Anzuoni—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4113493/adele-21-album-billboard/","name":"Adele's 21 Named Greatest Album of All Time by Billboard"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Adele Gears Up For More Fame With New Album Release","description":"Adele is back. 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