Adele’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Hello,” the opening single from her album 25. Released in 2015, it debuted at the top of the chart and remained No. 1 for ten weeks.
Adele wrote the song with producer Greg Kurstin. Its piano-led arrangement and themes of regret, distance, and attempted reconciliation created a deliberately dramatic return after a period away from the spotlight. The music video, directed by Xavier Dolan, reinforced the song’s nostalgic visual atmosphere.
“Hello” became one of the era’s largest global releases and broke several sales and streaming records when it appeared. Its opening-week performance was especially notable because the song combined traditional ballad writing with the reach of digital streaming and online video.
Adele had already been a major artist through “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You,” but neither was her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1. “Hello” provided that milestone and also became the central introduction to 25, an album whose title refers to Adele’s age when she began making it.