Top 11 Songs from Adele's Album 21

CJ Tiernan
Oct 19, 2025
2 min read

By CJ Tiernan

Adele was born exactly 2 weeks before me, in May of 1988. Her album titles are, or have been to date, named for the age at which she writes and composes her albums, though they're usually released a year or two after that. That means it is very easy for me to track what age Adele is when she releases these albums and compare myself at that same age to her. (Yikes! I changed my mind. I'm not interested in doing that.) Her first album was 19. Her huge, game-changing album was her second album: 21. It was released in 2011. I had just graduated college, I was unemployed. She released one of the greatest albums of all time at the age of 22. Comparing any further will just hurt my feelings.

I love basically every single part of this album. All the songs are tremendous, emotional, and powerful. I listened to this album on my iPod over and over again while mowing my parents lawn in the summer of 2011 (ah, the iPod. What a time to be alive!) I clearly wasn't alone, because it was the best selling album of the year in both 2011 and 2012. Worldwide! Below is a list of my 11 favorite songs on the album (spoiler alert: there were only 11 total songs on the album, if you don't count deluxe releases and exclusive bonus tracks).

Kristopher Harris from Charlotte, NC, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

1. Someone Like You

2. Rolling in the Deep

3. Set Fire to the Rain

4. Turning Tables

5. Take It All

6. Don't You Remember

7. Rumor Has It

8. One and Only

9. He Won't Go

10. I'll Be Waiting

11. Lovesong

Final Thoughts

Raw emotion seems to permeate this entire album. Adele herself referred to this album as a break-up album. You can feel the power of her vocals and her words in each and every song. Interestingly, the song I ranked last here is the only one she was not involved in writing. It is a cover of a song by The Cure. Apart from "Chasing Pavements" from her album "19" and "Hello" from her album "30," this album contains every single one of her best songs (an argument could be made to also include "Skyfall," as that song did earn her an Academy Award for best original song). That is pretty great praise for an all-time great vocalist. Please let me know in the comments if you feel I have these in the wrong order. Now get out of here and go rock out to one of the greatest albums of all time again on your audio streamer of choice. Thanks!