Adele: One Year Later

What a difference a year makes.

Today, exactly one year after the release of Adele's second album, 21, it had its biggest sales week with more than 730,000 copies sold. It also surpassed 2 million downloads on iTunes and it broke an impressive record: 21 became the longest-running No. 1 album by a woman in Billboard's nearly 56-year history with — how do you like this number … — 21 weeks at the top.

All this after her sweep at the Grammys earlier this month, where she became the second artist in history to have won in the academy's top three categories — record of the year, album of the year, and song of the year — while also holding the title of Best New Artist from two years prior.

But, we like to look back on another anniversary: Six months before 21's release, in September 2010, a pre-fame Adele was sitting in our editor-in-chief Joanna Coles' office and joking about her newfound culinary skills, her morning cigarette addiction, and her concern over her "lumps and bumps." She shot a video for our site and gave us a pre-screening of some of her now-hit singles. And, yes, tears were shed even back then when she belted out "Someone Like You."

Stay tuned next week as MC's Sergio Kletnoy — who first brought Adele into our office nearly two years ago — releases some cutting-room-floor footage from that memorable day!