HOLLYWOOD—It’s always amazing to see the best-selling records of 2021. Adele’s hit album “30” and The Weeknd’s reflective single “Save Your Tears” were the best-sellers, according to published reports. Adele’s highly-anticipated fourth album sold more than five million copies in just two months. It was the biggest-selling record on vinyl and CD.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd’s  (real name Abel Tesfaye) moody retro-pop ballad topped the charts in 18 countries and was streamed 2.15 billion times. It was the second year running that the Canadian star delivered the world’s most popular song. Canada also claimed the second spot, thanks to Justin Bieber’s collaboration with Australian singer-songwriter The Kid Laroi. Their hit, “Stay,” was the only song to top two billion streams in 2021. Dua Lipa came close, though, with her disco-throwback anthem “Levitating” attracting 1.88 billion worldwide plays to take third place.

The methodology tends to favor records from the start of the year, as they have more time to accumulate sales-so it’s no surprise that all of the top 10 singles were released before June 2021. Adele, beat the competition after just six weeks of release, she was number one in the Top 10 global albums of 2021. Another comeback album was Abba’s “Voyage,” also made it to the top, thanks to strong sales on CD.

The Swedish pop legends, who made a surprise return after 40 years of retirement, had the second most-purchased album of the year-but sank to eighth position once streams were included. Amazing that the British artists accounted for three of the year’s top 10 albums, with Adele joined by Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa. Harry Styles’ “Fine Line” was the year’s second biggest-seller, while The Beatles re-release of “Abbey Road” took seventh place. Adele’s dominance over all three, speaks of her incredible, unique song-writing skills and talent, her iconic voice and her unrelenting global popularity shines through.

Adele is vowing to return to the Las Vegas residency later this year. Back in January, she told fans she was “gutted” to have postpone the 12-week Las Vegas run because of COVID-19 cases in her team and delivery delays.

Pop group BTS, whose catch, upbeat songs have won them legions of fans, have been named as the world’s best-selling artists for the second year running. The South Korean band beat the likes of Adele. It comes after a hugely successful year for Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook-who topped the US Billboard chart three times and earned a Grammy nomination for their Michael Jackson-inspired single, “Butter.”

In Asia, BTS released a Japanese language greatest hits album, “BTS: The Best,” which was the year’s biggest-seller on Japan’s Oricon album chart. It was the first time in 37 years that a foreign act has topped the chart. The last artist to do so was Michael Jackson, with his blockbuster 1984 album “Thriller.” In BTS’s home country, the CD release of “Butter” also topped the year-end charts-marking the sixth year in succession that the band have managed the feat. BTS phenomenal success over the last year is a testament to their creativity, hard work and ongoing commitment to continuing to find ways to bring their music to the world. They topped the Global Artist Chart in two consecutive years.

Taylor Swift took second place in the chart-the same position she held last year-while Adele came third. BTS were joined by fellow K-pop stars, Seventeen who made their debut on the chart at number nine, while Olivia Rodrigo made her first appearance, in tenth place.

Due to the war in Ukraine, musical stars, Nick Cave, Green Day and many more pull gigs in Russia. While announcing the cancellation of their summer gigs in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Franz Ferdinand noted their love of Russian culture but condemned the state’s attack on its neighbor.

Rose’s Scoop: On a personal note…our hearts go out to the courageous, brave Ukranian people for their resistance and love of their country. May God Bless them all!