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"Subtract", the British singer-songwriter's
sixth studio album, went straight to no. 1, extending Sheeran's
"flawless run of chart-topping albums", the Official Charts
Company said.
The record is the fastest-selling album of 2023 for now,
shifting 76,000 chart units in its opening week, with nearly
three-quarters made up of physical copies, it said, adding,
"Subtract" was also the best-selling vinyl album of the week.
"Subtract also sees Ed edge ahead of The 1975 in the list of
acts to have reached the summit with all of their studio albums,
now boasting six to the latter’s five," the Official Charts
Company added.
Sheeran had been working on the album for a while but re-wrote
it early last year following a turbulent month during which his
best friend, UK music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards, died and his
pregnant wife was diagnosed with a tumour that could only be
removed after the birth of their child. He was also facing a UK
copyright trial over his 2017 song "Shape of You", a case he
went on to win.
More subdued that his previous albums, critics have praised
"Subtract" with The Telegraph newspaper calling it "a raw,
powerful balm for suffering souls" while The Guardian hailed it
as "easily his best ever album".
Its success came a week after a jury in a Manhattan federal
court decided Sheeran's 2014 hit "Thinking Out Loud" did not
unlawfully copy from Marvin Gaye's classic 1973 song "Let's Get
It On" - a verdict Sheeran said would help protect the creative
process for song writers in the U.S. and globally.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Nick Macfie)
(Photo: Singer Ed Sheeran performs the Platinum Jubilee Pageant,
marking the end of the celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee of
Britain's Queen Elizabeth, in London, Britain, June 5, 2022.
REUTERS/Hannah McKay/Pool/File Photo)
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