Closing the circle

or you Adele fans, November 19, 2021 was a special day. Five years after her record-breaking „25“, the British singer finally followed up with a new album. I was in a few record stores in Berlin that day and had the impression that I had rarely seen even institutions like the Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann so full. Crowds pushed their way to shelves where „30“ LPs were stacked up to the ceiling. It felt a bit bizarre, but not really bad, to be part of such a mass phenomenon, especially in times when release days have basically become meaningless and physical formats have degenerated into something of a side thought. Since Sony, after selling 22 million copies of „25,“ was expecting a similar bonanza from the follow-up, all major pressing plants worldwide had been jammed by the production of „30.“ Even Ed Sheeran had to be patient before all ordered copies rolled off the assembly line. Sheeran will be able to cope with