Ed Sheeran has topped off his almighty comeback by claiming the number one spot on the UK album charts with his third album, ÷ (Divide). Not only did he shoot straight to the top of the charts, he’s also broken countless records in the process.
Selling a staggering 672,000 copies this week, ÷ is officially the fastest-selling album by a male artist ever. It is also the third fastest-selling album in history, with only Oasis and Adele selling more copies than him in the first week of release.
The album has sold so many copies, that it has already been awarded a 2x Platinum certification in its first week. The figures are so incredible, that ÷ actually outsold the entire Official Albums Chart Top 500 combined this week!
It’s interesting to note that, considering we’re in an era where streaming and downloads often overshadow physical sales, 62% of Ed’s sales this week were from physical formats. As well as CDs, the album was released on vinyl. Ed has scored the biggest one-week vinyl album sales in more than 20 years!
Unsurprisingly, Ed also broke streaming records. He set a new record of 79,000 album streams, the highest first-week streaming sales for an album ever. He breaks Stormzy’s record which was created just last week.
Thanks to streaming, all 16 of Ed’s album tracks have also charted in the top 20, making him the first artist to ever achieve this feat. He is also the first artist to hold the entire top 5 – ‘Shape of You’ remains at number one for the ninth week, whilst ‘Galway Girl’, ‘Castle On The Hill’, ‘Perfect’ and ‘New Man’ are at 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively.
Ed also sets a new record for the most top 10 singles from one album. He has scored 10 top 10 singles, taking into account his nine songs this week, and ‘How Would You Feel (Paean)’ which was recently in the top 10. He takes the title away from Calvin Harris, who previously landed nine top 10 singles from his album 18 Months.
Phew, we’re exhausted just thinking about all these broken records! We couldn’t be happier for Ed Sheeran, and we’re so glad to see him get the recognition he deserves. We’re guilty of streaming his album all week – don’t forget to read our review of it here.
Ed Sheeran is absolutely unstoppable – who knows what records he’ll achieve next?! We’re putting our bets on ‘Shape of You’ coming close to breaking Bryan Adams’ 1991 record for the longest consecutive number one single!