19 is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele. It was released on 28 January 2008, through XL Recordings. Following Adele's graduation from the BRIT School in April 2006, she began publishing songs and recorded a three-song demo for a class project and gave it to a friend, who posted the demo on Myspace, where it became very successful and led to interest from the record label.
This led to Adele signing a recording contract at age 17 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.
Named after the age of the singer during its release and production, 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, nostalgia and relationships.
Upon release, 19 received positive reviews from critics, who praised Adele's vocal prowess and songwriting talent at such a young age and noted her as having the "potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation."
19 also won numerous accolades including the Mercury Prize and the European Border Breakers Award. At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, Adele won for the Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (for "Chasing Pavements").
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, while the former being Adele's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also contains her first song, "Hometown Glory", written when she was 16, which is based on her home suburb of West Norwood in London. 19 debuted at number one on the UK charts during its release and was certified 8x platinum by the British Phonographic Industry with sales of over 2.4 million copies.
Peaking at number four on the US Billboard 200 in 2012, the album has sold over 3 million copies in the United States and over 6.5 million copies worldwide.