Ed Sheeran hit #1 with "Perfect"

Perfect Ed Sheeran with Beyoncé

Writer(s): Ed Sheeran (see lyrics here) Released: September 26, 2017 First Charted: March 25, 2017 Peak: 16 US, 19 BA, 18 DG, 11 ST, 12 RR, 122 AC, 19 A40, 16 UK, 16 CN, 18 AU, 12 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 2.4 UK, 21.4 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 4.0 radio, 4807.0 video, 2548.03 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Perfect” first hit the charts in March 2017 when Ed Sheeran’s third studio album, Divide (÷) was released. All sixteen of the album’s tracks debuted in the top 20 in the UK and Sheeran occupied nine of the top 10 slots that week, with “Perfect” coming in at #4. WK In the U.S., ten of the album’s songs debuted on the charts with “Perfect” launching at #37. WK Six months later it was officially released as a single and in December an acoustic duet version with Beyoncé was released. The latter pushed the song to #1 on the pop charts in the U.S. The song also topped the charts in the UK and nineteen other countries. WK The song became Sheeran’s third to spend more than a year on the Billboard Hot 100, following “Shape of You” and “Thinking Out Loud.” He was the first solo artist to do so with three separate singles. SF “Perfect” was the first Sheeran wrote for his third album, was a romantic ballad about his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn. He initially met her in school and then then reconnected when she was working in New York. He said the lyrical inspiration came from a visit to fellow singer James Blunt’s house in Ibiza, where they listened to the music of rapper Future, WK specifically “March Madness.” SF After he wrote it, he sent it to Cherry in New York, but didn’t get to see her reaction to the song. SF He told Zane Lowe in an interview that he wanted to outdo previous ballad “Thinking Out Loud” because “I know that song was going to define me.” WK As a final wish of his grandmother, Sheeran collaborated with his brother Matthew, who provided string orchestration on the song. WK The full orchestration was used in a third version of the song, known as “Perfect Symphony,” which featured Andrea Bocelli. Parts of the instrumentation were used in the original version. WK The video was directed by Jason Koenig, who also helmed Sheeran’s chart-topping “Shape of You.” It was filmed at an Austrian ski resort and depicted Sheeran and actress Zoey Deutch on a ski trip, dancing in the snow, and ending up in a cabin together. MTV UK’s Ross McNeilage called the video a “Christmas dream.” WK It wasn’t actually a Christmas song or video, but the snow gave it a wintery theme. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 7/25/2023.

3/10/2017: Ed Sheeran’s Divide hit #1 in UK for first of 20 weeks

Divide (÷) Ed Sheeran

Released: March 3, 2017 Charted: March 10, 2017 Peak: 12 US, 120 UK, 19 CN, 127 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 3.71 UK, 13.28 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Eraser (3/25/17, 90 US, 14 UK, 36 CN 31 AU, UK sales: 0.2 million) Castle on the Hill (1/6/17, 6 US, 7 AAA, 2 UK, 2 CN, 2 AU, worldwide sales: 3.9 million) Dive (3/25/17, 49 US, 8 UK, 19 CN, 5 AU, UK sales: 0.2 million) Shape of You (1/6/17, 112 US, 124 AC, 112 A40, 114 UK, 116 CN, 115 AU, worldwide sales: 17.03 million) Perfect (remix with Beyonce, 3/25/17, 16 US, 122 AC, 19 A40, 16 UK, 16 CN, 18 AU, worldwide sales: 13.5 million) Galway Girl (3/17/17, 53 US, 2 UK, 16 CN, 2 AU, worldwide sales: 2.546 million) Happier (3/25/17, 59 US, 6 UK, 22 CN, 16 AU, UK sales: 0.4 million) New Man (3/25/17, 72 US, 5 UK, 21 CN, 20 AU, UK sales: 0.4 million) Hearts Don’t Break Around Here (3/25/17, 93 US, 15 UK, 42 CN, 32 AU, UK sales: 0.2 million) What Do I Know? (3/25/17, 83 US, 9 UK, 26 CN, 24 AU, UK sales: 0.4 million) How Would You Feel (Paean) (2/17/17, 41 US, 2 UK, 19 CN, 2 AU, worldwide sales: 0.51 million) Supermarket Flowers (3/25/17, 75 US, 8 UK, 31 CN, 19 AU, UK sales: 0.4 million) Total Running Time: 46:14

Rating: 3.607 out of 5.00 (average of 33 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: With his sophomore album, X, Sheeran soared to new heights any pop star would envy. In his native UK, every song from the album either charted or sold 200,000 copies. With Divide (÷), a Grammy winner for Pop Vocal Album, Sheeran replicated that feat in the UK, but also pulled it off in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. All 16 songs from the deluxe edition hit the top 20 in the UK. Sheeran set a record by landing 9 songs in the top 10 simultaneously when the album debuted. WK His dominance on the UK chart was so prevalent, the Official Charts Company changed their rules for streaming songs to hit the charts. WK “Sheeran long ago perfected his rapping busker schtick, which frees him to fulfill his destiny as an adult alternative troubadour.” AMG He blends “acoustic sensitive-guy vibes with digital-age craft” RS to help “make over pop’s sound.” RS “Like its predecessors, …[it] is colorful and lithe, casually hopscotching from style to style without ever drawing attention to its range.” AMGIt all helps to make this “his easiest album to enjoy.” AMG Rolling Stone’s Maura Johnston noted that on Divide “Ed is still showcasing pop savvy.” WK Rosie O’Connor of The Independent praised it as “astonishing for its sheer ambition alone.” WK NME’s Jordan Bassett said the album “somehow adheres to his perfect pop template while also being quietly weird.” WK Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press said the album would “definitely multiple [Sheeran’s] bank account.” WK His biggest hit from X was “Thinking Out Loud,” a ballad which hit #2 on the US charts and would, for most artists, be their career song. Sheeran, however, topped that feat in the US with two #1 hits from Divide: the “beat-heavy, body-focused track” RS Shape of You and Perfect, “a lushly arranged love song that evokes golden-age pop.” RS The former was one of two lead singles to support the album. Castle on the Hill was released simultaneously. “Castle” “balances jittery guitars and a massive chorus” RS as it “strives for a Glastonbury-ready rock grandeur à la U2, Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons.” RS Galway Girl was the official follow-up single to the one-two punch of “Shape” and “Castle.” Sheeran puts “his own spin on the Irish drinking song to the present-day pop world in a modern-day jig that recalls a synthesis of Justin Timberlake meets the Pogues.” RS The song “pays tribute to a fiddle-playing Irish lass who isn’t above chowing down on Doritos when bringing a guy home – and it even brings some Emerald Isle-inspired bounce into the mix.” RS “Dive finds Sheeran easing into old-fashioned Memphis soul.” AMG “The deceptively breezy alt-acoustic New Man is an acidic rebuke of an ex’s new boyfriend’s faults.” RS “The album closer, Supermarket Flowers, is a wispy ballad Sheeran wrote as a tribute to his late grandmother, a retelling of the aftermath of her funeral from the perspective of his mother.” RS

Resources and Related Links: AMG All Music Guide RS Rolling Stone WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/7/2019; last updated 4/30/2022.