Hello. It’s me.

Since the release of 21 in March 2011, Adele’s fans have patiently awaited the return of her passionate and inspiring music. After three years of silence, Adele has emerged with a new single “Hello” released October 23, already topping the Billboard Charts at #1.

Though her next album, 25, will not be released until November 20, Adele’s fans were pleased with the release of “Hello.” The music video on YouTube has already had over 300 million views with more than 23.2 million views the day it was released; in fact, it broke Taylor Swift’s record of 20.1 million views on a music video in 24 hours. As a result, one wonders…will Adele’s 25 sell more copies and thus be more successful than Taylor Swift’s 1989 ?

At SUA, most girls believe that 25 will not surpass 1989 as the most successful album. 72% of students stated that they listen to Taylor Swift more frequently than Adele. The following graphs show the Academy’s response to which artist’s album and hit song will make more revenue.

The graph on the left shows if 25 will sell more copies in a year than 1989. The students have spoken – 127 say no, 110 say yes. The graph on the right shows if “Hello” will have more views on YouTube than “Shake It Off” in one year. The students have spoken – 119 say yes, 118 say no.

Statistically, Taylor Swift and Adele have both had very profitable albums in the past. Adele’s 21 was in the Billboard Top 10 Albums list for 78 weeks, while Taylor’s 1989 was in the Top 10 list for nearly 54 weeks. To see if Adele can top Taylor Swift as this year’s biggest artist, let’s compare album statistics.

Aside from the statistics of the albums, one thing differed greatly between the two: 21 was available to stream on YouTube, Spotify, and other music streaming media, while 1989 was only available to buy physically or on iTunes, which greatly increased copies sold. If Adele chooses to take a similar route and allow this album to be sold and not streamed, then 25 certainly has the possibility of outranking 1989 as the #1 album of the past year.