Ed Sheeran officially ended Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" stint through his new single, "Eyes Closed."
The lead single of Sheeran's highly-anticipated fifth studio album, "-" (Subtract), officially arrived on March 24. Asylum and Atlantic Records dropped the track and immediately conquered the No. 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart.
Ed Sheeran Takes Over UK Singles Chart No. 1
Billboard reported that Sheeran officially replaced Cyrus on the UK Singles Chart after his "Eyes Closed" immediately debuted at No. 1 - the place previously held for 10 weeks.
The official website announced the feat on March 31.
It officially marked his 14th top spot on the chart, stopping "Flowers" from equaling Tones And I's an 11-week record with "Dance Monkey." The latter song then remains the longest-running leader by a female solo artist.
With Sheeran's 14 No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, he has now the same number of chart-topping songs as Westlife and Cliff Richard. They are now in third place on the all-time list, following Elvis Presley (who has 21 No. 1) and The Beatles (17 No. 1).
"Hi guys, "Eyes Closed" is my 14th No. 1 single in the United Kingdom. I'm over the bloody moon, thank you so much," Sheeran said in a video recording posted on Official Charts' official Instagram page. He also expressed his excitement to release the full album soon.
Ed Sheeran New Album 2023
"Eyes Closed" is one of the 14 tracks included in his upcoming album. The other songs are "Boat," "Salt Water," "Life Goes On," "Dusty," "End of Youth," "Colouurblind," "Curtains," "Borderline," "Spark," "Vega," "Sycamore," "No Strings," and "The Hills of Aberfeldy."
Before dropping the single, Sheeran's collaborator Aaron Dessner revealed in a new Instagram post what they went through while making the new album.
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Sheeran's upcoming album will serve as the last installment of his notable mathematical album era, following 2011's "+," 2014's "x," 2017's "÷," and 2021's "=."
He revealed that Sheeran's upcoming songs were inspired by the issues and struggles he went through in life.
"A few months later, in the winter of 2021, he started writing to them and sending sometimes multiple song ideas a day, inspired by a very difficult period he was going through in his life," he went on. "I could really empathize with what he was feeling and was eager to help realize these songs."
The 14 tracks included in the album were selected out of over 30 songs they made at the beginning of 2022.
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