Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Adele of a record

Adele's only-slightly-less-impressive-because-the-charts-have-less-meaning-now chart achievements of the last few weeks has given Gennaro Castaldo something to think about other than whether there'll be enough money left to order Closing Down Sale posters:

"Adele is one of those increasingly rare artists who has the talent and appeal to reach beyond her typical fanbase and connect with a much broader audience," says HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo. "She's now enjoying a wonderful virtuous circle where her continuing success feeds in to more coverage and even greater word of mouth, which, in turn, keeps the sales clocking up."

"... at least, to judge by the figures on the Amazon site."

Are artists who reach beyond a "typical fanbase" really increasingly rare, or is that just how the world seems when you're stood at the back of a shop peering desperately out into an empty High Street?

It's not like Adele is crossing over from gospel, country or skacore anyway - she might be a very good mainstream artist, but she's still a mainstream artist. Surely her current success is down in part to having done a very good job of creating an album intended to have mass appeal rather than target a specific corner of the genre-box?