Seven months following its initial release, Adele's blockbuster 25 album is finally available for streaming. The collection can now be heard on all major streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime and Tidal.
The singer has always expressed reservations about streaming, dating back to the release of her 21 album five years ago. That album was also withheld from streaming services upon release, although it was eventually offered. Adele's first album, 19 (the singer has named all of her CDs according to her current age when recording them), was released prior to streaming's emergence as a popular listening option for music fans, but is also now available on all major streaming services.
When 25 was released back in late 2015, the singer herself made the call not to allow it to be streamed. The singer spoke out about her decision, referring to the practice of streaming as "a bit disposable" and added, "I know that streaming music is the future, but it's not the only way to consume music. I can't pledge allegiance to something that I don't know how I feel about yet."
At the time, Spotify issued a statement indicating that it hoped Adele would change her mind and come on board sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, the 25 album burned up the charts, breaking the record for U.S. first-week album sales with 3.38 million sold, topping the previous record-holder, N*SYNC's 2000 CD No Strings Attached by almost one million. While it's impossible to conclude whether withholding 25 from streaming helped bolster physical album sales for Adele, it certainly didn't hurt. The collection continued on to top the Billboard album charts for 10 (non-consecutive) weeks.
Adele did allow the streaming of the three singles released from the album, the blockbuster "Hello" and its two follow-up releases "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" and "When We Were Young." At the time of the album's release, the singer also conceded that 25 would eventually be made available to music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. When asked about the possibility, she responded, "Yeah, probably. I'm certainly not one for spicing things up. I'm just doing what I've always done. I've always done this. 'Hello' is on there because it's on the radio. So ... probably."
It appears that the time has come, and listeners who want to access 25 via streaming can now do so via all major streaming services. It will be interesting to see if, seven months later, the move leads to 25 rising back up the Billboard album charts.
