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According to CBS, Adele sold more than 4.8M albums this year. No surprise, her lead single “Rolling in the Deep” was also crowned 2011’s most popular song.
Other notable Billboard rankings include Rihanna — who was the second most popular artist of the year, and Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown, who came in at numbers eight and ten respectively.
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Although Adele has had major success this year, she unexpectedly canceled several U.S. tour dates and underwent throat surgery. She’s recovering quite well and plans to be back on stage by February of 2012.
She tells Billboard, “I imagine I’ll be 25 or 26 by the time my next record comes out, as I haven’t even thought about my third record yet. I’m just gonna lay some concrete, set up home and just ‘be’ for a bit. I’ll disappear and come back with a record when it’s good enough. There will be no new music until it’s good enough and until I’m ready.”