On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received a weighted mean score of 88 based on 23 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Columbia Records, which previously only handled Adele's releases in North America, promoted the album worldwide.

Ranking as the top album of 2021 in the UK, 30 exceeded 600,000 units in total activity, with 502,000 coming from pure sales. ventes en une semaine : avec "Civilisation", Orelsan bat tous les records et devance largement Adele" [138,929 sales in one week: with "Civilization", Orelsan breaks all records and is well ahead of Adele]. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph believed it features "powerhouse" songs, "intense" emotions and "bravura" performances. The CBS special Adele One Night Only, which featured Adele's interview with Oprah Winfrey along with performances of previously released material and 30 tracks, aired on CBS on 14 November 2021.CNN reported that 30 contributed largely to rise of both vinyl sales and CD sales, and they were reported to be up for the first time in 17 years. Early on in the promotion for 25, Adele revealed that she planned to stop naming albums after her age.

Adele had begun working on the album in 2018 and collaborated with producers such as Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Inflo, Tobias Jesso Jr.Adele currently outselling rest of the Top 40 combined as 30 heads for Official Albums Chart Number 1". Type Adele in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and 30 in the box under the TÍTULO column heading. received acclaim from music critics, who emphasized Adele's vocal performance as well as the lyricism and subject matter. Midway through its third week, 30 had sold over a million pure copies in the US, becoming the first 2021 album to reach the milestone.

Adele reunited with Kurstin, a long-time collaborator and friend, which allowed her to feel as though she "could say anything, sing anything, and they wouldn't judge me. Adele wanted to create a "safe space" during the album's recording and opted to work with fewer people than on her previous project 25. She decided to have regular conversations with him, which she recorded following advice from her therapist. Referencing dating post-divorce, Adele wrote the song inspired by her first time flirting after her split with Konecki.Critics praised the rawness and intensity of the subject matter and the lyrical themes about hope and acceptance. I feel like this album is self-destruction, then self-reflection and then sort of self-redemption", she said. All Night Parking" posthumously credits American jazz pianist Erroll Garner as a featured artist, making it the first song on a standard Adele album to have a featured artist credit. The album was promoted with the television specials Adele One Night Only and An Audience with Adele.