Ed Sheeran And Sam Smith Topping The Charts

Ed Sheeran recently released his much anticipated second full-length titled x(pronounced “multiply”), after much promotion and many live performances. At roughly the same time, fellow British pop artist Sam Smith released his debut album In the Lonely Hour.

Both albums have shot to the top of the Billboard Top 200 albums charts, making Sheeran and Smith the first British artists to make it to the top of the U.S. Billboard albums chart in over twenty years, according to the Independent. The most recent UK artists to reach top spots were Eric Clapton with Unplugged and Sting with Ten Summoner’s Tales in 1993.

Ed Sheeran secured the number one spot with Sam Smith in a close second. Sheeran’s x sold 210,000 copies in the first week, according to the Los Angeles Times. Smith’s In the Lonely Hour sold 67,000 copies after its launch.

Keith Caulfield from Billboard said:

“With Sheeran and Smith at Nos. 1 and 2, the Billboard 200’s top two rungs are occupied by British soloists for the first time in more than 20 years.”

Here is the Billboard top 10 in the best 200 albums chart:

1. Ed Sheeran, x
2. Sam Smith, In The Lonely Hour
3. G-Eazy, These Things Happen
4. Lana Del Rey, Ultraviolence
5. Soundtrack, Frozen
6. Mastodon, Once More ‘Round The Sun
7. Phish, Fuego *new*
8. Miranda Lambert, Platinum
9. Linkin Park, The Hunting Party
10. Various, NOW 50

Ed Sheeran’s success came on the heels of his collaboration with Pharrell on the song “Sing,” as well as his song “All Of the Stars” on the Fault In Our Starsfilm soundtrack. The Inquisitr has been reporting on Ed a lot these days, including the rumors of his personal life and who he plans to collaborate with in the future. It seems the world can’t get enough Ed Sheeran. Ed released the following tweet in celebration of his number one spot:

Had my first #1 album in America this week. Thanks for everyone supporting it, that’s mental x

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) July 2, 2014

Meanwhile, Sam Smith hasn’t quite hit the number one spot, but he still has a hit single “Stay With Me” which has been sweeping radio stations everywhere for weeks now. Sam Smith’s song has sold 211,000 copies and logged 26.3 million views on YouTube, according to Rolling Stone.

AMERICAAAAA!! #INTHELONELYHOUR is now available!! Wow http://t.co/pRmj4ZjoN1

— SAM SMITH (@samsmithworld) June 17, 2014

What do you think of Sheeran and Smith topping the U.S. charts? Have you heard their new albums? If so, what did you think?