Shape of you

On January 4, 2017, Ed Sheeran published a 6-second video teaser containing the first line of the new song. On January 6, during a Breakfast Show broadcast on BBC Radio 1, the musician stated that the song “Shape of You” was created for Rihanna ^{[3] [4]} , with the idea that the composition would be suitable for Rihanna, he began to add various details to the text (for example, Van The Man on the jukebox ), but only then decided that he himself would be the performer of the song ^[5] . Sheeran did not write it purposefully for the new album, but then decided that “It will be funny” ^[6] .

“Shape of You” contains features of the dancehall genres and tropical house as well as acoustic elements ^{[7] [8] [9]} . Accompanied by marimba and percussion, Sheeran tells the story of meeting in a bar ^{[10] [11]} . “Shape of You” is written in D minor key, at a rate of 96 beats per minute; the sequence of chords is C♯mF♯m-AB,; The vocal range spans 2 octaves from Gol♯ ₃ to Gol♯ ₅ ^[12] .

A review by The New York Times says Shape of You is a cunning, agile, and impressive song that incorporates the aggressive sophistication of Caribbean music. " ^[13] The Billboard review states that the song does not sound like a typical Ed Sheeran song. but “it’s still Sheeran, but in a new manifestation.” ^[14] The Spin magazine gives a positive assessment to the song; it is noted that the text speaks quite a lot about sex, “it’s a kind of slap in the face,” but the story sounds convincing. ^[15] Metro news site noted that “Shape of You” sounds very similar to the song. th “ Cheap Thrills ” performed by Si Si Ferler ^[16] .

On January 13, 2017, Shape of You debuted at No. 1 in the UK on the UK Singles Chart, with a print run of over 227,000 copies in its first week. At the same time, another single of Shiran's “ Castle on the Hill ” debuted in second place, which made this artist the first in the history of the United Kingdom who managed to debut in the first two places at once in one week ^[17] . By July 2017, the song reached an all-time high of 184 million streams, making it the UK's most audible streaming hit in all of this year's recordings of this kind ^[18] . The track became a national bestseller taking into account 787,000 copies of sales and 248 million streams, which in total yielded 3.2 million sales in 2017 ^[19] . The single became the UK 's third best seller (combining sales and the streaming equivalent; September 19, 2017) ^[20] .

On January 28, 2017, Shape of You led the American Billboard Hot 100 charts . This is the first Charttopper for Ed Sheeran in the United States as a performer. Previously, the single “ Thinking Out Loud ” was the most successful, reaching second place in 2015 and staying there for almost a record 8 weeks. But as an author, he was already 2 weeks on the top of the chart with the hit hit “ Love Yourself ” (performed by Justin Bieber ), the best single of all 2016 . Since his second hit “ Castle on the Hill ” simultaneously debuted at position No. 6, Ed Sheeran became the first performer in US history to debut in the top ten Billboard with two of his singles at once. In addition, Shape (240,000 downloads) and Castle (171,000) started in the first two positions on the Digital Song Sales digital chart, and Sheeran also became the first in the history of this chart to debut in the first two places, No. 1 and No. 2 at the same time ^[21] .

"Shape of You" led the American hit parade (Hot 100) for 12 weeks ^[22] . In the 4th week of leadership, the song also topped the Mainstream Top 40 chart, where it became Sheeran’s second charttopper (after the hit of 2015 “ Thinking Out Loud ”). On May 6, 2017, the single lost first place (having gone to No. 2) to the hit “ Humble ” by rapper Kendrick Lamar ^[23] . On September 2, 2017, “Shape of You” spent 32 weeks in the top ten in the Top 10 Ten of the Hot 100 chart, sharing this record with hits by How Do I Live country singer Lee Anne Rimes and Closer from The Chainsmokers with Halsey ^{[ 24]} . In the Billboard Dance / Mix Show Airplay dance chart, “Shape of You” became the first charttopper for Shiran (in the Dance / EDM chart) ^[25] . On March 18, 2017, the song led the dance club's Dance Club Songs , becoming the first solo charttopper for Sheeran in this charts. ^{[26] [27]} / In August 2017, “Shape of You” was tentatively named the best seller of all of 2017 in the USA with a run of 2 , 3 million copies, including about 2 million sales and 799.7 million streaming downloads, combined from audio and video streams ^[24] .

On January 5, 2017, the channel released a music video for the song “Shape of You” along with “ Castle on the Hill ” ^[28] . By November 2018, the official lyric video was watched more than 790 million times on YouTube ^[29] , and the official music video “Shape of You” was watched about 4 billion times, which thus became the second most watched video on YouTube in its entire history after Despacito ^[30] .

• # 1 Streaming Songs Chart List 2017 (Billboard)