charts discussion Has the public completely moved on from Ed Sheeran?

[SweetOreosOfHeaven]

Despite rulling the charts during the 10's decade, earning hit after hit after hit and being, at one point, the biggest streaming artist, Ed Sheeran seems unable to retain his chart power as time goes on.

After his latest 3 albums each performed significantly worse than the last before it, Ed has just recently released a new lead single, going back to his earlier sound which earned him some of the biggest hits of this century (Shape Of You comes to mind).

Despite this, and his staggering 50M youtube subscribers, the music video has barely cracked 100k views in over 4 hours, a worrying sign for an artist of his caliber.

Even though it's still early, and anything could happen, it indicates there's not many interest for Ed Sheeran music in 2025 (even less than Katy Perry, might I say?).

So what I want to discuss is: what happened? Is it over? And If not, what should be his move to regain some attention towards his music? Perhaps an image change?

Edited yesterday at 08:27 AM by SweetOreosOfHeaven

[AshleyLovescats887]

Hopefully. Never liked him at all.  Ruined 'Run' and 'Everything Has Changed'.

Absolutely destroyed the potential of 'End Game'

Is besties with John Mayer despite also being friends with Taylor

Also he is just very nice guy coded

 

Get him to tank once more !

Edited yesterday at 08:36 AM by AshleyLovescats887

[SweetOreosOfHeaven]

1 minute ago, AshleyLovescats887 said:

Hopefully. Never liked him at all.  Ruined 'Run' and 'Everything Has Changed'.

Absolutely destroyed the potential of 'End Game'

Is besties with John Mayer despite also being friends with Taylor

Also he is just very nice guy coded

 

Get him to tank once more !

Everything Has Changed is great. But it is funny how almost everytime he and Taylor collabed for some reason it tanked despite featuring two massive hitmakers. 

[Frappucino]

Sure, and let's keep it that way please 

[Dolce Vita]

it looks to be the case 

 

[taylordswift13]

ATRL/Stan twitter may hate him but Ed is still selling out stadiums & liked by the GP

[SweetOreosOfHeaven]

6 minutes ago, taylordswift13 said:

ATRL/Stan twitter may hate him but Ed is still selling out stadiums & liked by the GP

This is about his current chart power. Plenty of 80s rock bands are able to sell-out stadiums but I wouldn't consider relevant just because of that.

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

I think it's just a natural part of these type of artists career cycle. 

 

Extremely huge and very mainstream appealing, killing it left and right for some years, slowly fades away because the gp moves on and you don't really have a distinctive sound, or maybe people are just tired of seeing/hearing you everywhere. Probably will still do good touring and as a nostalgia act later on. 

 

I think in Ed Sheeran's case, he just doesn't fit the musical landscape anymore, and he got overexposed. The music you linked sounds like something that could've been made in 2015-2017, video looks like that too. 

 

Instead of chasing outdated trends, he should just pick his guitar back up, I think his actual fanbase would appreciate that.

[CozySkin]

No 

[SweetOreosOfHeaven]

3 minutes ago, Gesamtkunstwerk said:

I think it's just a natural part of these type of artists career cycle. 

 

Extremely huge and very mainstream appealing, killing it left and right for some years, slowly fades away because the gp moves on and you don't really have a distinctive sound, or maybe people are just tired of seeing/hearing you everywhere. Probably will still do good touring and as a nostalgia act later on. 

 

I think in Ed Sheeran's case, he just doesn't fit the musical landscape anymore, and he got overexposed. The music you linked sounds like something that could've been made in 2015-2017, video looks like that too. 

 

Instead of chasing outdated trends, he should just pick his guitar back up, I think his actual fanbase would appreciate that.

He did that and it was his worst performing album. Akin to 143.

[SweetOreosOfHeaven]

3 minutes ago, CozySkin said:

No 

Wow you make a very compelling case.

[Kern]

Yes! I rest my case 

[Blade Runner]

26K likes.  Even random youtubers get more than that nowadays. 

 

Yeah, he's over (inb4 he debuts with 26M streams tomorrow). 

[Helix]

It's a weird situation with him. He kinda became a throwback act already despite having his peak less then 10 years ago. People still go to his concerts (he had a huge stadium tour last year) and are still streaming his old hits but they just don't check out/care for his new music anymore. 

 

Same thing usually happens to older acts like Pink but at least her career as a hitmaker spanned for around 20 years while Ed only had like 5-7 years.

[Aurora]

Sounds like a 'Divide' leftover you'd expect to find packaged with the 10 year anniversary edition in a couple years, not a whole new lead single. I think Ed has some good songs, but he's clearly been uninspired for years now.

[Princess Aurora]

Yeah, he's over even though the song is cute. The pink aesthetic is on touch 

[bluemoonstar]

Run ***** ruuuunnnn

[SweetOreosOfHeaven]

22 minutes ago, Aurora said:

Sounds like a 'Divide' leftover you'd expect to find packaged with the 10 year anniversary edition in a couple years, not a whole new lead single. I think Ed has some good songs, but he's clearly been uninspired for years now.

Yeah it's very of that time. It's catchy though. 

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

55 minutes ago, SweetOreosOfHeaven said:

He did that and it was his worst performing album. Akin to 143.

Oh okay, I don't follow him or his music, I was just basing it on his last few singles I heard.

 

Well, it's over for him then 

[mike_int]

Well Azizam sounds like mediocre Eurovision entry. 

 

Im sure next single will be cheesy love ballad.

 

No thank you

[Archetype]

A few issues, but all simple:

- GP-driven hits: fanbase has little impact on chart performance of singles

- Mostly a singles artist in the US: and his albums rely on massive singles to keep them on the charts

- Lack of intrigue: GP has never been interested in him or his personal life, and he doesn't have the creativity that someone like Lana has to make something so mundane seem worth listening to

- Too predictable and formulaic: he really only has one "sound" that becomes too monotonous.

[ScorpiosGroove]

thankfully yes ! it's over for Chucky's uglier sister 

[sherloid_bai]

I just know he's seething at Taylor's power nowadays after that interview when they said they compete for chart positions

[HandsToMyself]

I've never really been a fan of him but I loved Bad Habits from his third last album and Azizam is also a bop. It's wild how nobody seems to be listening to his new music though 

[Punky Rooster]

When a generic song, why does he sing like Bieber?