Sony/ATV Songwriter Ed Sheeran Receives Top Album of The Year

In the States Nielsen Music reports that the release delivered an unrivalled 2.76 million album-equivalent units in the calendar year, 1.1 million of which came from traditional album sales.

Divide additionally leads the year-end rankings in the U.K. where it achieved 2.7 million album-equivalent units, including 2.1 million from physical and download sales, according to the Official Charts Company.

Sheeran also has the year’s No. 1 single in the U.K. with “Shape Of You”, while his songs “Castle On The Hill”, “Galway Girl” and ‘Perfect” respectively rank at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 on the year-end countdown.

“Shape Of You” is further the No. 1 song on U.S. radio in 2017, generating 5.85 billion audience impressions across the year. However, among the U.S.’s top download songs of the year it was outsold by “Despacito”, which was co-written by Sony/ATV songwriters Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Erika Ender. The Latin mega-hit sold 2.69 million downloads across the year, compared to 2.54 million for “Shape Of You”. “Despacito” also tops Nielsen Music’s rankings as the most streamed audio and video song of 2017. It was responsible for 595 million audio streams and 727 million audio streams in the U.S. last year, giving it a combined count of 1.3 billion streams.

A number of other Sony/ATV songwriters prominently appear on Nielsen Music’s year-end charts for 2017, including Taylor Swift whose Reputation is the year’s biggest-selling album in the States. It sold 1.9 million copies in the year in just seven weeks, having been released on November 10. Swift also had the U.S.’s top-selling album in 2014 with 1989 and in 2009 with Fear. When factoring in streaming, Reputation is the year’s No. 3 album based on total equivalent album units, while Sony/ATV songwriters Drake and Khalid are respectively at No. 4 and No. 10 for the year with their releases More Life and American Teen.

Cardi B, who signed to Sony/ATV in 2017, has the year’s 9th most-streamed song with her breakout hit “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”, while the year’s top radio songs include Sony/ATV songwriters The Chainsmokers at No. 3 with “Something Just Like This”, which they wrote and recorded with Coldplay. Other Sony/ATV signings represented among the year’s Top 10 radio songs are Alessia Cara and James Arthur.

Meanwhile, The Beatles’ classic album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is published by Sony/ATV, is the year’s biggest-selling vinyl album in the U.S. with 72,000 unit sold. The group’s Abbey Road is at No. 2 with 66,000 sales.

In the U.K. Sony/ATV Music Publishing co-publishes eight of the year’s Top 10 songs, including the entire top five comprising “Shape Of You”, “Despacito”, “Castle On The Hill”, “Unforgettable” by French Montana featuring Swae Lee and “Galway Girl”. Sony/ATV songwriters also heavily feature among the year’s top artist albums. Besides Ed Sheeran, these include Jamie Scott who executive produced and was the main songwriting collaborator on Rag’n’Bone Man’s debut album Human, which is the year’s No. 2 title, Sam Smith at No. 3 with The Thrill Of It All, Pink at No. 5 with Beautiful Trauma and Sheeran again at No. 6 with his second album X.