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

19 is the debut studio album by British singer Adele . It was first released on 28 January 2008 , through XL Recordings . Following Adele 's graduation from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in May 2006 , she began publishing songs and recorded a three-song demo for a class project and gave it to a friend . The friend posted the demo on Myspace , where it became very successful and led to interest from XL Recordings . This led to Adele signing a recording contract with the label and providing vocals for Jack Peñate , during this session for Peñate 's song she met producer Jim Abbiss , who would go on to produce the majority of her debut album .   Adele wrote most of the album 's material solely , but did work with a select few writers and producers including Jim Abbiss , Eg White and Sacha Skarbek . Their collaborations created a blue-eyed soul album with lyrics describing heartbreak and relationship . Upon release , 19 received generally positive reviews from critics , who praised the singer 's vocals and noted her as having the `` potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation . '' 19 also won and was nominated for numerous accolades including a Mercury Prize , and the Grammy Award for Best New Artist . The second single , `` Chasing Pavements '' , also won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards .   Four singles were released from the album , with `` Chasing Pavements '' and `` Make You Feel My Love '' reaching the top ten on the UK Singles Chart and the former becoming Adele 's first Billboard Hot 100 entry . 19 debuted at number one on the UK charts during its release , and was certified seven times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry -LRB- BPI -RRB- with sales of over 2 million copies . Peaking at number four on the US Billboard 200 in 2012 , the album has also sold over 3 million copies in the United States and an estimated 7 million copies worldwide .