Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” hit #1 in UK

Someone You Loved Lewis Capaldi

Writer(s): Lewis Capaldi, Samuel Romans, Thomas Barnes, Peter Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn (see lyrics here) Released: November 8, 2018 Peak: 13 US, 13 BA, 14 RR, 16 AC, 16 A40, 30 AA, 17 UK, 14 CN, 4 AU, 16 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 4.8 UK, 11.02 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1202.0 video, 2873.63 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi released six singles in 2017 and 2018 before he found worldwide success with “Someone You Loved.” The song gave him his first #1 hit in the UK and U.S. It was the first chart-topper by a Scottish solo singer since Sheena Easton had topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Morning Train (Nine to Five)” in 1981. SF It also was the best-selling single in the UK in 2019 and won the Brit Award for Song of the Year. In May 2020, it became the longest-running top 10 UK single of all time (31 weeks) by a British artist. SF Capaldi told the French magazine Brut that he wrote the song about his grandmother who had died. Not only does the song focus on family bereavements, but the end of relationships. SF He explained it was about “that feeling when you start getting to know someone and things have been going really well but you’ve been reluctant to be as open as you like with stuff in the past.” SF He told The Courier it was the saddest song he’d ever written. SF It took Capaldi six months to write. WK It started at a recording session and he came up with a melody idea and recorded it on his phone. It wasn’t until a few months later, that he sat down at the piano to finally develop a rough demo. Finally, when he was in the studio, he told the producers about the song. He’d been trying to avoid another breakup song and the producers suggested he write more about loss in general. SF He did a “stream-of-consciousness sort of thing” and they finished “Someone You Loved” within a few hours. SF Even though he personally loved the song, he still was shocked that it struck a chord with so many people. He told Entertainment Weekly that he enjoyed writing the song, but was surprised that it became ‘what it was globally. It’s one of those things. I don’t know how, but I’m not going to question it.” EW Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lewis Capaldi EW Entertainment Weekly (9/10/2019). “Lewis Capaldi has ‘no f-ing clue’ why you love his song ‘Someone You Loved’ so much” by Ruth Kinane SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 4/2/2022; last updated 7/25/2023.