Earlier this year, Ed Sheeran famously said that he’d like to be as popular as Taylor Swift. Sheeran might not be quite on Taylor’s level yet, but the British crooner is well on his way to going down as one of the most popular artists of his time.
The proof is in the numbers. Throughout the past few years, Ed Sheeran has seen success with numerous songs, including “Don’t,” “Photograph,” and “Sing.” While each of those songs has been wildly popular, none of the songs have done what “Thinking Out Loud” has accomplished this past year.
In fact, with “Thinking Out Loud,” Ed Sheeran has set a new record in the UK: It’s the first song to ever spend an entire consecutive year on the UK Top 40 chart.
Congrats @edsheeran ‘Thinking Out Loud’ is the first single ever to spend a full year in the Official Chart Top 40! pic.twitter.com/Mwo7SqkgWU
— bpi music (@bpi_music) June 22, 2015
Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” hit the chart at No. 26 a year ago and finished at No. 28 this past week. In between, the song took 19 weeks to hit No. 1, which also is a record. No other song has ever taken quite so long to reach the No. 1 spot on the UK chart.
Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud has been in the top 40 for a whole year http://t.co/IwzmodXSbf pic.twitter.com/qj8u0ElHVh
— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) June 22, 2015
Sheeran’s song may be the first to spend an entire year on the UK chart, but it’s not the first to make a run at the record. In recent times, Pharrell’s “Happy” spent 49 weeks on the chart while John Legend’s “All of Me” spent 44 weeks on the chart.
BBC News notes that, years ago, another song spent 75 weeks on the UK chart though the weeks were not consecutive. Then, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” landed on the Top 40 chart between 1969 and 1971.
“Thinking Out Loud” comes from Ed Sheeran’s X album , which is pronounced multiply. To date, Sheeran’s song has sold more than 1.65 million copies, according to BBC News .
Sheeran’s X album has seen plenty of success, as well, as it also has remained in the top 10 of the UK charts for an entire year. To date, that album has sold more than 2.23 million copies, which makes the album the fifth best-selling of the decade.
Sheeran is currently touring the United States and Canada while promoting his X album.
What do you think of Sheeran’s most recent accomplishment? Is Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” one of the best songs of the past year?
[Photo by Joerg Koch/Getty Images]
