Chart Watch: Ed Sheeran Blasts Onto Top of the Charts With ‘Shape of You’

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” enters both the Hot 100 and the Official U.K. Singles Chart at No. 1. It’s Sheeran’s first No. 1 hit (as an artist) in the U.S. It’s his third No. 1 (again, as an artist) in the U.K., following “Sing” and “Thinking Out Loud.” (Sheeran co-wrote Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” which reached No. 1 in both countries.)

“Shape of You” is the first No. 1 hit that wasn’t a collaboration to top the Hot 100 since Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!,” which debuted at No. 1 in May. This ends a record-setting 34-week streak in which collabos topped the chart.

“Shape of You” is from Sheeran’s upcoming third studio album, ÷ (pronounced divide), which is due March 3. A second song from the album, “Castle on the Hill,” debuts in the top 10 in both the U.S. and U.K., setting records in both countries. It enters Hot 100 at No. 6. Sheeran is the first artist to have two songs enter the Hot 100 in the top 10 simultaneously. It enters the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart at No. 2. Sheeran is the first artist to debut at No. 1 and No. 2 in the U.K. with new tracks in the same week.

These two hits bring Sheeran’s tally of top 10 singles in the U.S. to five; in the U.K. to 12.

“Shape of You” is a light pop track. “Castle on the Hill” is a rock ballad in the mold of a Coldplay track. (The industry term is “adult alternative”).

“Shape of You” sold 240K copies in the U.S. its first week, which allows it to enter Top Digital Songs at No. 1. That’s the biggest one-week sales tally since Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” sold 379K copies in its first week in May. It’s Sheeran’s first No. 1 hit on the Digital Songs chart.

“Castle on the Hill” enters Top Digital Songs at No. 2 (with sales of 171K). Sheeran is the first artist to debut in the top two spots on that chart the same week. He is just the eighth artist to have held down the top two spots the same week. He follows Mariah Carey in 2005, Beyoncé in 2008, The Black Eyed Peas in 2009, Kesha in 2010, Taylor Swift in both 2012 and 2014, Iggy Azalea in 2014 and Prince, posthumously, in 2016.

Three of the last four songs to enter The Hot 100 at No. 1 are by English artists. “Shape of You” follows Adele’s “Hello” and Zayn’s “Pillowtalk.” (Timberlake is the only American artist to accomplish this feat in the past two years.) Prior to this surge, only one song by an English artist ever entered the Hot 100 at No. 1 That was Elton John’s 1997 megahit, “Candle in the Wind 1997.”

Though “Shape of You” is the song’s title, it’s not the most-repeated phrase in the song. The phrase “I’m in love with your body” appears 15 times. The phrase “shape of you” appears just six times.

All three of Sheeran’s studio albums have employed arithmetical signs as album titles. ÷ follows + (pronounced plus) and x (pronounced multiply). I think I’ve got the perfect album for Sheeran: Ray Charles’ 1961 classic, Genius + Soul = Jazz.

Top Songs

Migos’s “Bad and Boujee” (featuring Lil Uzi Vert) drops from No. 1 to No. 2 in its ninth week.

Rae Sremmurd’s “Black Beatles” (featuring Gucci Mane) dips from No. 2 to No. 3 in its 18th week. The song logged seven weeks at No. 1.

The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (featuring Daft Punk) holds at No. 4 in its 17th week. The song reached No. 1.

The Chainsmokers’ “Closer” (featuring Halsey) drops from No. 3 to No. 5 in its 24th week. It’s the first song in Hot 100 history to spend its first 24 weeks in the top 10. It surpasses Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” which spent its first 23 weeks in the top 10. “Closer” logged 12 weeks at No. 1.

Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic” drops from No. 5 to No. 7 its 14th week. The song reached No. 4.

Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring Kendrick Lamar) dips from its No. 7 peak to No. 8 in its 14th week. The song is the most-played song at radio for the fifth week.

Ariana Grande’s “Side to Side” (featuring Nicki Minaj) drops from No. 6 to No. 9 in its 20th week. The song peaked at No. 4.

“Bad Things” by Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello holds at No. 10 in its 11th week. The song has climbed as high as No. 9.

Two songs drop out of the top 10 this week: DJ Snake’s “Let Me Love You” (featuring Justin Bieber), which reached No. 4, and Drake’s “Fake Love,” which reached No. 9.

Top Albums

The Weeknd’s Starboy holds at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the third nonconsecutive week. This matches The Weeknd’s previous album, Beauty Behind the Madness, which logged three weeks at No. 1 in September 2015. Both albums were No. 1 in traditional album sales for just the first of those three weeks. The second and third weeks at No. 1, in both cases, were due to the Billboard 200 formula since late 2014 which blends traditional album sales, digital track sales and streaming data.

Two movie soundtracks appear in the top three for the first time in nearly two years. La La Land vaults from No. 15 to No. 2 in its fifth week. Moana dips from No. 2 to No. 3 in its eighth week. This is the first time that movie soundtracks have held down two of the top three spots since May 2015, when Pitch Perfect 2 debuted at No. 1 and Fifty Shades of Grey jumped from No. 6 to No. 3.

La La Land features the Golden Globe-winning “City of Stars,” sung by stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. La La Land is No. 1 this week in terms of traditional album sales, but ranks No. 2 when digital track sales and streaming activity are factored in. Moana includes Auli’i Cravalho’s rendition of “How Far I’ll Go” (co-written by Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda), which was a Golden Globe nominee.

Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic dips from No. 3 to No. 4 in its eighth week. The album has climbed as high as No. 2.

J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only holds at No. 5 in its fifth week. It debuted at No. 1 four weeks ago.

Hamilton: An American Musical holds at No. 6 in its 68th week. The Broadway cast album peaked at No. 3 in the wake of the Tony Awards in June. This is its 21st week in the top 10.

Drake’s Views drops from No. 4 to No. 7 in its 37th week. It logged 13 weeks at No. 1.

Dropkick Murphys land their third top 10 album as 11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory debuts at No. 8. It follows Going Out in Style (No. 6 in 2011) and Signed and Sealed in Blood (No. 9 in 2013).

Post Malone’s Stoney rebounds from No. 14 to No. 9 in its fifth week. The album peaked at No. 6. This tops the only previous Stoney album to make the top 10, Barbra Streisand’s Stoney End, which logged four straight weeks at No. 10 in the spring of 1971.

Chris Stapleton’s Traveller rebounds from No. 22 to No. 9 in its 70th week. The album spent two weeks at No. 1 in 2015. The resurgence is largely due to the success of a viral video on Facebook, where a father sings along to Stapleton’s version of “Tennessee Whiskey” in his car, while his daughter records the performance. The Facebook video was uploaded on Jan. 1 and has collected more than 20 million views.

Traveller logs its 26th week at No. 1 on Top Country Albums. It’s the first album to log 26 or more weeks at No. 1 since Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now had 31 weeks on top in 2010-11. It’s the first album by a male artist to log that many weeks at No. 1 since Tim McGraw’s Not a Moment Too Soon had 29 weeks on top in 1994. Traveller is Stapleton’s first solo album. It’s just the fifth debut album to log 26 or more weeks at No. 1 on the country chart since the chart originated 53 years ago. It follows Billy Ray Cyrus’s Some Gave All (34 weeks at No. 1), Clint Black’s Killin’ Time (31 weeks), LeAnn Rimes’ Blue (28 weeks), and Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts (27 weeks).

Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week: Twenty one Pilots’ Blurryface, the Sing soundtrack, Suicide Squad: The Album, and the Trolls soundtrack.

Coming attractions: The xx’s I See You and The Flaming Lips’s Oczy Mlody are expected to be next week’s top debuts.