Ed Sheeran scores 1st No. 1 hit on Billboard Hot 100 with “Shape of You”

PanARMENIAN.Net - British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran makes a successful comeback as he scores his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Shape of You". He also becomes the first artist ever to debut two singles in the top 10 at the same time, as his "Castle on the Hill" bows at No. 6 on the January 28-dated chart, AceShowbiz reports.

"It feels amazing to debut a No. 1 in the U.S. especially after being away for so long," Sheeran said in a statement. "Topping the Hot 100 for the first time AND to have 'Castle On the Hill' also debut in the top 10... I'm speechless. I really wanted to come back with those two songs to show the different sides of my music and what people can expect on 'Divide (division sign)'. The response to both songs has been absolutely incredible. I can't wait to share the rest of the album."

"Shape of You" vaults to the top thanks to its massive digital sales with 240,000 first-week downloads in the week ending January 12, according Nielsen Music. The song flies to No. 4 on the Streaming Songs chart with 20 million U.S. streams and jumps to No. 18 on the Radio Songs chart with 57 million in airplay audience. Meanwhile, "Castle on the Hill" debuts at No. 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart with 171,000 downloads and No. 11 on the Streaming Songs chart with 13 million U.S. streams.

As the songs were incessantly played on streaming platforms across the globe, Sheeran broke the record for Spotify's First Day Streams. "Shape of You" earned a whopping 6,868,642 streams, while "Castle on the Hill" wasn't far behind with 6,168,395 plays. Those numbers easily broke the previous record of 4,759,698 plays in a single day, which was set by One Direction's new single "Drag Me Down".

Spotify also confirmed that "Shape of You", which is currently their No. 1 hit in 39 countries, broke the record previously set by Adele's "Hello" for Best First Week for a Track, with over 52 million streams within a week of its debut.

"Divide" will hit the shelves on March 3. In a recent interview with Zane Lowe on "Apple Music's Beats 1 Radio", Sheeran revealed that he originally planned to release the album back in November, but changed his mind because of "s**t storm" caused by Donald Trump's election as U.S. president.

Back to the new Billboard Hot 100 chart, Migos' "Bad and Bounjee" and Rae Sremmurd's "Black Beattles" drop to No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Rounding out the new top 5 are The Weeknd's "Starboy", which holds at No. 4 after spending one week at No. 1, and The Chainsmokers' "Closer" featuring Halsey, which retreats to No. 5 after spending 12 weeks at No. 1.

Below Sheeran's "Castle on the Hill" at No. 6 is Bruno Mars' "24K Magic", which descends to No. 7 after peaking at No. 4. Maroon 5's "Don't Wanna Know" featuring Kendrick Lamar drops to No. 8, while Ariana Grande's "Side to Side" featuring Nicki Minaj falls to No. 9 after reaching No. 4. Machine Gun Kelly and Camila Cabello's "Bad Things" stays steady at No. 10 after hitting No. 9 three weeks earlier.