Adele's popularity on both sides of the Atlantic was reaffirmed once again as she won multiple awards at both the Grammys and the Brits. The Grammys were held on 12 February, with Adele scooping up all six of awards she was nominated for – including scoring a hat trick of the three most prestigious awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year awards. Just over a week later, she was back on the stage again this time collecting two Brit awards – Best British Female, and the highly prized Mastercard British Album Of The Year. At both awards ceremonies she gave spine-tingling performances of 'Rolling in The Deep', and after each event her album sales shot up dramatically: '21' sold 730,000 copies in one week after the Grammys, and shortly after the Brits it hit the 4 million sales mark in the UK.

Adele wasn't the only artist taking home some additions to the trophy cabinet at the Brits – Coldplay won Band of the Year for the third time and US Rock band Foo Fighters won Best International Group for the second time.