First female to have biggest-selling album and single in US and UK in same year

In 2011, British singer-songwriter Adele (b. Adele Adkins) crowned 12 months of record-breaking feats by becoming the first female and the first act since The Beatles in 1964 to achieve the ‘transatlantic quadruple’ - the top-selling album and single in the US and the UK in the same year. In the US, the album 21 and lead single “Rolling in the Deep” amassed sales of 5.82 million and 5.81 million, respectively. In Adele’s homeland, 21 and “Someone Like You” shifted 3.77 million and 1.24 million copies, respectively.