The Grammy race is underway with nominations coming next month. There’s a lot of speculation about the Album of the Year nominees. Some pundits are hoping to position another Beyonce vs. Adele deathmatch as both divas released records this past year.
But Beyonce’s “Renaissance” was not much after all. Total sales failed to reach the 1 million mark. The magic number so far is only 816,000. “Renaissance” was just not as popular as Beyonce or her record company would have liked.
So Adele may not have to worry about Beyonce at all. Indeed, Adele’s real competition is coming from within her own company. Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” is really the success story of the year. Sony has sold 1.8 million copies. Plus the lead single, “As It Was,” has been a monster hit. And the second single, “Late Night Talking,” is doing very well. If I were Adele, I’d be more worried about having to lease space in “Harry’s House.”
As for Adele, her “30” album had a big start and a quiet finish. She got one big hit out of it– “Easy On Me” — and sold about 2.7 million copies in the last year. After a disastrous PR deal on those Weekends with Adele– all cancelled — she’s got a fresh slate starting soon. She actually plays a show on Saturday, February 4th, the night before the Grammys. After that show Adele will be placed in a Ziploc bag and carried on a cashmere pillow by dragons from Westeros to the Staples Center Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles where she’ll feed on Sony Music interns raised only on Johnny Mathis records until showtime.
Will there be a spoiler in the group like this past year’s win by Jon Batiste? Yes. That would be Bad Bunny, whose “Un Verano Sin Ti” has outsold everyone with 3 million copies. He’s massive international hit, and could very well steal the whole deal. He’d be the first Puerto Rican act to do so. Remember, you heard that here first.
