Adele's new single smashes US downloading record

British singer accused of plagiarising Tom Waits' Martha

Adele accused of plagiarising Tom Waits

Adele's new single Hello shattered downloading records in its first week of sales in the US.

The piano ballad is the singer's first release in nearly five years and opened at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Hello was downloaded 1.1 million times on digital, nearly doubling the previous record holder, rapper Flo Rida's Right Round which sold 636,000 copies in 2009 according to music trackers Nielsen.

Adele's upcoming album ...