Started in 1989, Glamour magazine hosts an annual Woman of the Year awards ceremony to honor extraordinary and inspirational women from a variety of fields, including entertainment, business, sports, music, science, medicine, education and politics. Adele has received two awards.

Adele’s style on 21 is generally characterized by critics as soul, although some suggest that the album eschews any distinct stylistic epithet. John Murphy of musicOMH characterizes the album as British soul. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that the album’s music is a part of a recent British soul revival that “summoned styles dating back to Motown girl groups and Dusty Springfield”. Ryan Reed of Paste calls Adele a “British alt-soul prodigy” and the album’s music “the stuff of sensual modern pop-noir landscape, heavy on retro textures and relationship drama.” Danyel Smith of Billboard views that Adele’s music exhibits influences from Northern soul, Aretha Franklin, Sade, and Bette Midler.

With the release of 21, critics began to tout Adele as the new torchbearer for the British soul music that ascended to the American mainstream via Duffy, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. Although the initial popularity of these artists in the early 2000s incited the media to declare a “new wave of British invasion”, Joseph Viney of Sputnikmusic saw their subsequent absence as an opportunity for Adele to “stake her claim as the UK’s leading solo female artist.” John Murphy of MusicOMH declared the album “a timely reminder that British soul hasn’t lost its mojo.” Indie label XL Recordings founder Richard Russell discussed what be believed to be the quasi-subversiveness of 21’s chart dominance. Characterising the success of 21 as “almost political and sort of radical”, Russell stated that the lack of gimmicks in Adele’s music undermined the widespread perception that female performers have to conform to specific body-types, or imbue their music with gratuitous sexual imagery, in order attain success.

The demo was integral to the finished song. Epworth developed the instrumentation over Adele’s single-take vocal demo after subsequent recordings failed to recapture the raw emotion of her first attempt. The track, as it appears on the album, still includes the faint audio of Epworth’s counting off the singer in the vocal booth immediately before she begins to sing.

Praised by critics for its understated production, vintage authenticity, and Adele’s vocal performance, 21 defied the modest commercial expectations of her indie record label XL Recordings and became a sleeper hit in 201The album topped the charts in more than 30 countries and appeared in the 2012 edition of the Guinness World Records. The United Kingdom’s best-selling album of the 21st century, its 23-week tenure atop the UK Albums Chart is the longest by a female solo artist. In the United States the album held the top position for 24 weeks, longer than any other album since 1985, and was certified Diamond. Singles “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone like You” and “Set Fire to the Rain” became worldwide number-one hits, while “Rumour Has It” and “Turning Tables” charted in the top 20 across Europe and North America.

The Swiss Music Awards are presented the Press Play Association in conjunction with Media Control Switzerland to national and international musicians in over ten categories. Adele has won two awards from two nominations.