Rumour Has It

"Rumour Has It" is a song from Adele's second album 21, released as the fourth single in the US.

Adele's breakout JT40 success in late 2011 was owed mostly to its first three singles, but was helped further by a song that wasn't even a single at the time it debuted.

In August 2011, "Rumour Has It" debuted on Jessica's Top 40. At the time, the song was not an official single, but topped the triple A radio charts and was also gaining airplay on alternative and hot AC radio, while it was also a top download on iTunes and gained attention from personal charts. The song, which is about how Adele's friends spread rumors about her breakup with her ex-boyfriend, was noted as a highlight on the album for Adele's vocal performance and the composition's blend of soul, blues and jazz.

"Rumour Has It" was one of two collaborations with songwriter/producer Ryan Tedder, who is also the lead singer of OneRepublic, recorded for the album, the other being "Turning Tables". Adele noted that it's easy to tell when a song is produced by Tedder (there was a minor controversy when Kelly Clarkson criticized him for her "Already Gone" sounding similar to Beyonce's "Halo", both of which Tedder produced), but wanted to work with him on a song that would surprise the listener: "You can really tell when you hear a Ryan Tedder song, which I liked, but I wanted to come out with something that would surprise everyone when it was us two put together, so we came out with this sort of bluesy-pop stomping song really."

On Jessica's Top 40, "Rumour Has It" reached #1 on September 25, 2011, spending one week on top and interrupting the domination of the singles "Someone Like You" and "Set Fire To The Rain", which dominated the top 3 that week, making Adele just the second artist to occupy the entire top 3 in a single week, the other being Tori Amos who did so in May 2005 with "Original Sinsuality", "Mother Revolution" and "Sleeps With Butterflies" inside the top 3. Two months after it left the top 40, it was announced "Rumour Has It" would officially be released as the fourth single from 21, leading to the song re-entering at #23 and reaching #1 a second time just two weeks later. With that, "Rumour Has It" became only the second song in JT40 history to reach #1 in two separate chart runs, the other being Madonna's "Love Profusion".

"Rumour Has It" also became the biggest hit by far written and/or produced by Ryan Tedder, whose previous best was Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love", which reached #4.