The single, in which she shares with the world details of the traumatic years she has endured since last releasing a record, achieved 217,300 chart sales, the highest week one figures since Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" in 2017, according to the Official Singles Chart.

It also drew 24 million streams in Britain during its first week of release, smashing the record set by Ariana Grande in 2019.

Despite her years out of the limelight, her fans flocked online to hear her new song, which has already attracted almost 100 million views on YouTube.

Her much-anticipated new album, 30, will be put out on November 19, the "Hello" and "Rolling in the Deep" singer announced last week.

The 33-year-old from north London recently opened up about her "year of anxiety", in which her marriage fell apart.

Recording began three years ago, she wrote on Twitter, at a time when her life was "a maze of absolute mess and inner turmoil". 

She broke a five-year silence with an interview for Vogue, published earlier this month, that spoke of living like a recluse as she battled with anxiety. 

"I've learned a lot of blistering home truths about myself along the way. I've shed many layers but also wrapped myself in new ones," she wrote in the Twitter post.

"I've finally found my feeling again. I'd go as far as to say that I've never felt more peaceful in my life."

Popular

Explore nearby, spend wisely: intra-provincial travel boom

Furniture exporters decry new quarantine rule

Jokowi faces storm of lawsuits six months after stepping down