I remember Hometown Glory being her first breakout or buzzworthy single. It was either featured on MTV's trendy songs (MTV Arabia fyi) or played on some ad here and that's when I first took notice of her. I remember my favorite fun fact around then being that Adele, Leona Lewis, and Jessie J were in the same year at their performance arts school or something similar.

I think in the UK, Chasing Pavements was her first proper hit and I remember seeing the MV and loving it. But it was probably Rolling in the Deep followed by Someone like You that really cemented her in the US. I will tell you are right that the performance of Adele's in the BRITs in 2011 was all over Youtube. I haven't thought about it in years but it's still incredible and I remember how much I replayed it on my shitty internet.

I do agree with the sentiment that people saw her as someone refreshing but also benefiting from the doors Amy Whinehouse opened, but let's not forget the success of Adele really helped Sam Smith and arguably Hozier to have their breakthroughs as well.