Claim: Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings.

`` Hello '' is a song by English singer Adele . It was released on 23 October 2015 by XL Recordings as the lead single from her third studio album , 25 -LRB- 2015 -RRB- . Adele co-wrote the song with her producer , Greg Kurstin . `` Hello '' is a piano ballad with soul influences , and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret . Upon release , the song was well received by music critics , who compared it favourably to Adele 's previous work and praised the song 's lyrics and Adele 's vocals . It was recorded in London .   `` Hello '' reached number one in almost every country it charted in , including the United Kingdom , where it became her second UK number-one single , following `` Someone like You '' , and has the largest opening week sales in three years . In the United States , `` Hello '' debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 , reigning for 10 consecutive weeks whilst becoming Adele 's fourth number-one on the chart and breaking several records , including becoming the first song to sell over a million digital copies in a week . By the end of 2015 , it had sold 12.3 million units globally -LRB- combined sales and track-equivalent streams -RRB- and was the year 's 7th best-selling single .   The accompanying music video was directed by Xavier Dolan and co-stars Adele and Tristan Wilds . The music video for the song broke the Vevo Record by achieving over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span , held previously by Taylor Swift 's `` Bad Blood '' which accumulated 20.1 million views in that timeframe . It also broke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views , previously held by Miley Cyrus ' `` Wrecking Ball '' , as well as shortest time to reach 1 billion YouTube views -LRB- 88 days -RRB- . The clip received seven nominations at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards , including Video of the Year and Best Female Video . Adele promoted the song with a live performance on a BBC one-hour-long special , entitled Adele at the BBC . At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards , `` Hello '' won three Grammy Awards : Record of the Year , Song of the Year , and Best Pop Solo Performance .