Ed Sheeran On Top Of The Charts (And The World)

While the world of music has been occupied with Lady Gaga and Beyonce in recent weeks (and rightfully so), Ed Sheeran has re-emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the world of Pop music. Though the official release of his Divide album isn’t slated until March 3rd, both of his lead singles from the forthcoming album have been taking YouTube and social media by storm.

At the time of this writing, Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You is number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, climbing up form the number two position last week to take the top spot. Also at the time of this writing, the official lyric video for Shape of You has garnered over 250,000,000 views on YouTube in the month since its release, and the official video for the song has climbed to over 106,000,000 views in just two weeks.

The soulful, Suffolk Singer/Songwriter has also been dominating the charts in his home country, as both Shape of You and Castle on the Hill have spent five weeks atop the U.K. pop charts — a new record for Ed Sheeran. The previous record of holding the one and two spots on the U.K. pop charts was held by Justin Bieber in 2015, when his tracks Sorry and Love Yourself held that distinction.

According to Official Charts, Ed Sheeran’s previous album X went on to become one of the decade’s best-sellers. The album, which features the catchy grooves of Don’t, the quintessential ballad Thinking Out Loud, and the widely successful I See Fire, surpassed 2 million units in sales a mere 9 months after its release.

Divide is the highly-anticipated follow-up to Multiply, and, no matter what mathematical equation Ed Sheeran uses, the end result will surely equal nothing but dollar signs for the singer. With Ed Sheeran’s recent performances on both Saturday Night Live, and the 2017 Grammys to promote his two singles, coupled with the massive views those singles are getting on YouTube, it’s safe to say that the hype is real, and, with less than a month until the release of Divide, the anticipation is only going to build momentum from here on out.

While it’s certainly ill-fitting to call Ed Sheeran a dark horse, it seems as though, with all the attention that Lady Gaga and Beyonce have garnered in recent weeks, Ed Sheeran has come in somewhat under the radar with the release of his newest singles and upcoming album — although, this may not necessarily be a bad thing.

As big as Ed Sheeran has gotten over the last few years, and with as many high-profile heavy-hitters and hitmakers as he has worked with, there is still an Indie vibe to both the man and his style that only bolsters his appeal among fans. At the Grammy Awards 2017, for example, Ed Sheeran did not need a big production or a huge wall of sound, only his trademark setup of loops, a keyboard, a few mics, and his acoustic guitar. Ed Sheeran even chose to perform sans in-ear monitors, sporting a casual back t-shirt and jeans — because that’s just what you do if you’re Ed Sheeran at the Grammys.

Although, perhaps Ed Sheeran himself is too unassuming for his own good. According to a recent report by TMZ, the A-Team hitmaker could not find his way into a Grammy After-Party held at Milk Studios in Los Angeles. However, things are not all bad for Ed Sheeran, as he was invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall once again on March 28th.

In the meantime, Ed Sheeran is preparing to kick-off his 2017 tour on March 19th in Zurich, Switzerland in support of his new album.

[Featured Image by Christopher Polk/Getty Images]