Since “25,” Adele has become a streaming star. Like Swift, she was a notable holdout when the format was newer, keeping her full LP off streaming services for months to help maximize sales. Since then, Swift — whose protest was more rooted in her discomfort with some services’ free tiers — has released six studio albums, gradually honing her approach to both streaming and sales (hello, merch bundles and vinyl pre-orders).
Adele, on the other hand, is diving headfirst into a vastly changed music business. Streaming now accounts for about 84 percent of recorded music’s domestic sales revenue, and while vinyl and deluxe CD packages can help push a new album to No. 1, online clicks are usually vital to its success in the long run.
So far, Adele seems to have a strong position. “Easy on Me” has been streamed 134 million times in the United States since its release a month ago, according to MRC Data, Billboard’s tracking arm.
After “25,” Adele’s songs drew 700 million to 800 million streams in the United States each year, even with no new material, according to MRC. Chartmetric, a company that tracks streaming and social media data, found that the playlisting of Adele’s songs, while growing for years, shot up dramatically as anticipation for “30” grew this year. “Easy on Me” is on almost 300,000 Spotify playlists, reaching nearly 360 million followers there, according to Chartmetric.
That success spreads to nearly every part of the music industry — brick-and-mortar retailers, streaming services and radio stations.
“She’s the Christmas present you look forward to,” said Poleman, of iHeartMedia, “except Christmas only comes every five to six years.”

Source: New York Times

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