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Cover of 21 by Adele
Cover: 21

Song · Adele

“Someone like You” by Adele

From the album 21 (2011)

“Someone like You” by Adele appears on 28 radio countdowns from 18 stations between 2011 and 2025. It was first released in 2011 on the album 21. Its best result is #2 on the WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2011. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #166 alternative song of 2011 and #5,114 alternative song of all time.

28countdowns
18stations
#2best position
0#1 finishes
3top 10 finishes
2011–2025years charted

Watch

Adele - Someone Like You (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (Adele). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

Adele wrote "Someone like You" with Dan Wilson for 21, her second album, in 2011, and they kept it almost bare: Wilson at the piano and Adele's voice, which turns out to be more than enough. The two produced it together, with Tom Elmhirst mixing and Philip Allen engineering.

It's a song about an ex who has moved on with someone else, and Adele sings it without a trace of armor, letting her voice crack open where a lesser singer would push harder. After she performed it at the Brit Awards it became her first UK number one, and it went on to become the very first winner of the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. Jake Nava's video, Adele walking the streets of Paris alone, suits it down to the ground.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
2011 4 WRSI 93.9 The River Northampton / Pioneer Valley, MA WRSI Top 93 Songs of 2011 93
2011 12 KFOG San Francisco Bay Area, CA KFOG Foghead Favorites of 2011 50
2011 11 WTMD Baltimore, MD WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2011 89
2011 10 103.1 The River Kalispell-Flathead Valley, MT 103.1 The River Top 103 of 2011 103
2011 11 WFUV New York, NY WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2011 90
2011 15 92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2011 50
2011 22 Lightning 100 Nashville, TN Lightning 100 Best of 2011 50
2011 16 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2011 107
2011 25 106.1 The Corner Charlottesville, VA 106.1 The Corner Top 107 of 2011 105
2011 2 WXPN Philadelphia, PA WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2011 100
2011 41 90.5 WERG Erie, PA WERG Top 90 of 2011 90
2011 46 Exit 97.7 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY WEXT Top 97 of 2011 97
2011 11 93XRT Chicago, IL WXRT Listener Poll: Top 25 Songs of 2011 25
2011 11 ALT 104.5 Philadelphia, PA Radio 104.5 Top 50.5 Songs of 2011 51

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
2012 166 WYEP WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown 500
2013 17 WXPN WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) 885
2014 272 WXPN WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) 885
2014 51 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (2014) 100
2015 94 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (2015) 100
2016 652 WYEP WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 913
2018 278 The Current The Current's 893 Essential Songs 892
2018 166 WTMD WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 896
2020 798 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2024 906 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years 1049
2024 13 WXPN WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) 885
2025 29 The Current 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now 893
2025 48 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century 909
2025 220 WYEP WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) 714

Also listed as: Someone Like You.

Charting alongside it in 2011

Best songs of 2011 →
  1. 1Pumped up KicksFoster The People
  2. 2RopeFoo Fighters
  3. 3The Adventures of Rain Dance MaggieRed Hot Chili Peppers
  4. 4WalkFoo Fighters
  5. 5You are a TouristDeath Cab for Cutie
  6. 6Rolling in the DeepAdele

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