To promote the album , Adele embarked upon the " Adele Live " tour , which sold out its North American leg . In October 2011 , Adele was forced to cancel two tours because of a vocal-cord haemorrhage . She released a statement saying she needed an extended period of rest to avoid permanent damage to her voice . In the first week of November 2011 Steven M. Zeitels , director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston , performed laser microsurgery on Adele 's vocal cords to remove a benign polyp . A recording of her tour , '' Live at the Royal Albert Hall , '' was released in November 2011 , debuting at number one in the US with 96,000 copies sold , the highest one-week tally for a music DVD in four years , becoming the best-selling music DVD of 2011 . Adele is the first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history to have the year 's number-one album ( '' 21 '' ) , number-one single ( " Rolling in the Deep " ) , and number-one music video ( '' Live at the Royal Albert Hall '' ) . At the 2011 American Music Awards on 20 November , Adele won three awards ; Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist , Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist , and Favorite Pop/Rock Album for '' 21 . '' On 9 December , '' Billboard '' named Adele Artist of the Year , '' Billboard '' 200 Album of the Year ( '' 21 '' ) , and the '' Billboard '' Hot 100 Song of the Year ( " Rolling in the Deep " ) , becoming the first woman ever to top all three categories
2011 American Music Awards
American Music Awards of 2011
Adele