Diamonds!
You have to feel sorry for Ed Sheeran sometimes. And not just because of the whole ginger thing.
His issue remains that he was once huge. A chart behemoth. The biggest star in the firmament. Never more fully manifested by the level of fame he had in 2017 when he released the Divide album. A record which moved over 627,000 copies in a single week (the third fastest-selling album in history) and whose single tracks penetrated the chart to such an extent that a whole new set of rules had to be put in place to stop him doing it ever again.
The issue is that this level of fame isn't sustainable. Things calm down, things return to a more sensible level. But it also means that forevermore, everything you do is framed against that career high point. And nothing you ever do again will come close to that.
We've seen this very phenomenon with his last few releases, although this has been tempered by the fact that since the start of the decade the busking superstar has been content to make records for him rather than mass appeal. 2021's Equals was a mainstream pop record with big hits to its name and a sale of well over a million, but that was followed by 2023's deliberately uncommercial Subtract and its low-fi companion Autumn Variations. None were intended for huge commercial success.
But new album Play is supposed to be a different kettle of fish altogether. A proper mainstream commercial record. Designed to be stuffed to the kettled fish's gills with hits and hopefully commanding a large sale. Even if that is never going to compare to Divide and we are all supposed to feel sorry for him as a result.
So this is what happened when Play was released this week. Yes, it is a No.1 record. Just as every single one he has ever made has ultimately become. And yes, by 2025 standards is has done so with a huge sale, but even his enormously impressive 67,654 is still only the third-highest single week sale of the year. And still a tenth of that extraordinary Divide total. Lest we forget Sabrina did 85K a fortnight ago - and we've still Taylor Swift to come next month.
Not Ed Sheeran Week
That semi-casual welcome for the record has extended onto the singles chart as well. In fairness it seems like Ed has been drip feeding tracks from the album for most of the year already, meaning we are already over familiar with its best moments. So far in 2025 he's released No.3 hit Azizam (bless you), No.17 hit Old Phone, No.5 hit Sapphire and No.18 hit A Little More. Two big hits and two lower key promotional releases. None of them what you might call major smashes.
Hence with the arrival of Play the Sheeran impact is to say the least muted and a world away from the near chart grand slams of old. In fact to find Ed Sheeran songs in the Top 40 you have to go hunting for them. The biggest hit the album hosts is the track that is being promoted officially as its fifth single, Camera doing the honours with the highest new entry at an otherwise lowly No.16. Just below Sapphire gets a small lift to No.28 with A Little More also enjoying a small but otherwise insignificant bump to No.32. Camera isn't a bad record by the way, the album's deep love song in which he does the Thinking Out Loud croak with his voice to tug on the heartstrings.
What are we to conclude from this then? It's a new Ed Sheeran album that has appealed to a still sizable hardcore of Ed Sheeran fans. But startlingly few others. Taylor Swift says "hold my beer".
Mixing It Up
You also have to feel sorry for Jadefromlittlemix (to give the lady her full title). She was only ever going to get one shot at a big deal solo album, no matter how many Brits or Glastonbury performances she did for everyone to purr over. And what do her label go and do? Release it in the same week as Ed Bloody Sheeran. That was never going to end well. My fascination with the attempts to turn the Little Mix females into solo stars is endless, because there is enormous amounts of money being thrown at projects that just aren't going to go anywhere. That remains a shame, because out of all four of them it is Jade that has been given the superstar aura and the best songs to play with. Angel Of My Dreams was deservedly well received, Plastic Box was a magnificent pop record that just failed to catch fire. And now here she is with the No.3 album of the week, outperformed by Ed Sheeran naturally, but also in the final shakedown outstreamed by Sabrina Carpenter (Man's Best Friend waiting in the wings to pop back to No.1 just as soon as Ed Sheeran has done with it). So Jade's debut album That's Showbiz Baby is No.3 on the only week of chart glory it is ever going to have. Meanwhile the biggest new hit it contains, Unconditional, makes its chart bow at No.51.
The legacy Little Mix fandom have of course lapped it up and will be fuming at the above words. But nobody else is truly bothered. At the very least she has got in first. Her bandmate Perri has her own solo album waiting in the wings, and that's due to arrive next week. In a way it is a shame they didn't go with the famous Kiss strategy of having everyone release their solo albums on the same day, but you can't have everything.
Knack All
That's a lot of time spent talking about albums, but in all honesty there is knack all else going on this week in an otherwise frustratingly becalmed singles chart. Once again it is down to Kpop Demon Hunters to nab the headlines. Golden is locked firm at No.1 for its seventh week on top (sixth consecutive) and so edges ever closer to that Archies record I flagged up last week. But there's now no guarantee that it will actually get there. The ACR clock has now ticked twice for Huntr/x as it declines in numbers yet again. And to compound matters Olivia Dean continues to close the gap, Man I Need also putting in a chart performance which once again would make it a nailed on No.1 single on most other occasions - and on almost 65,000 sales itself it is now within shouting distance of Golden. If this persists then next week we genuinely have a chart battle on our hands.
The two other songs from the animated movie continue to surge forward, Soda Pop returns to its No.3 peak after four weeks away while after eight weeks in the Top 10 Your Idol finally makes it to No.5. The two Saja Boys credited hits ensure that K-Pop themed tracks occupy three of the Top 5 singles for the first time ever.
A reminder as well that more Huntr/X tracks are waiting in the wings to chart. A look at the unfiltered streaming chart countdown shows just where they are hanging around. How It's Done is the seventh most-streamed track of the week, What It Sounds Like is No.14 and Takedown is at No.16. All would qualify for Top 10 positions if the Ed Sheeran rule wasn't place.
The Top 10 this week is extraordinary in many senses, the presence of no fewer than three official "acts" with three singles apiece in there meaning just four performers are entitled to call themselves Top 10 hitmakers this week. KPOp Demon Hunters have three, Sabrina Carpenter has three and Olivia Dean has three. Plaudits then for Sombr who finds himself fighting for air amongst all of these, 12 To 12 managing to creep to a new peak of No.7.
Meanwhile the question of whether Lady Gaga's The Dead Dance is one of her smash hits or another here today gone tomorrow hit is unanswered. It holds steady at No.13.
Meanwhile meanwhile the decidedly weird parade of Golden Oldies almost all line up together around the edge of the Top 20. We have Yellow by Coldplay (year of release: 2000) at No.19, Sparks by er, Coldplay at No.20 (also from 2000), Breakin' Dishes by Rihanna at No.21 (2007), Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz at No.22 (2005) while a third Coldplay track Viva La Vida (from 2008) dips to No.26.
For Gorillaz in particular this is rather bittersweet. The cartoon band's brand new single The Happy Dictator is a mere No.73, although with a co-credit for Sparks it gives the Mael brothers their first new Top 75 hit since 1997.
Kittens
There's one final Top 40 hit which just sneaks in under the wire. They are kind of K-Pop but technically not as they are based out of America, but the six-way female group Katseye have been threatening to become the latest sensation since the start of the year. It was supposed to have happened with the irritatingly annoying Gnarly which had viral smash written all over it (and still yet might be) but which was never able to advance beyond the No.52 it debuted at back in May. Then in July the girls tried again with Gabriela, which is like a dose of syrup compared to its predecessor. The lavih reggaeton track has spent the summer charging in and out the charts as various promotional efforts have been applied to it. And then this week it has unexpectedly made the Top 40 at last - 12 weeks after it first appeared on the charts. Gabriella is this week's No.39 single. The sky is the limit from here ladies.
