Someone Like You by Adele (2011) opens with a piano progression that has become one of the most immediately recognisable sequences in modern pop: A major, E major, F sharp minor, D major. The movement is unhurried and deliberate, each chord arriving with a quiet inevitability. The shift from A to E carries a sense of forward yearning, while the drop into F sharp minor introduces a gentle ache that gives the progression its emotional weight. Resolving to D major offers just enough stability to feel bittersweet rather than bleak, and the cycle rewards repetition in a way that feels both natural and inevitable under the fingers. Rooted in the piano-driven pop soul sound that defined the early 2010s, the song showcases Adele's instinct for melody built on harmonic simplicity.