Ed Sheeran’s second album X also known as Multiply was released on June 23, 2014. It was massively successful following his debut album that had the breakout hit The A Team. X spawned four hit singles. Sing was the lead single and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Don’t followed and was equally successful. Sing and Don’t were more up tempo songs and a different sound for Ed Sheeran. It also incorporated hip hop.  Thinking Out Loud was a massive hit and became a go to song at weddings. Thinking Out Loud is a love ballad and is considered a classic out of Ed Sheeran’s catalogue. Photograph was the final single off the album and was a midtempo ballad.  

Thinking Out Loud peaked at number 2, lasting on the Billboard Hot 100 for fifty-eight weeks. Don’t peaked at number 9 and lasted for thirty-six weeks. Photograph peaked at number 10 and lasted for thirty weeks. Sing peaked at number 13 and lasted on the chart for twenty weeks.

X as a whole is a solid album and has a variety of styles. Ed Sheeran’s bread and butter is tender ballads. The A Team was a huge hit from his debut album. Lego House was a midtempo song. Sing was a lot different than what the audience knew from Ed Sheeran at the time. Sing was a different kind of song for Ed Sheeran. It did well on radio and paved the way for Don’t which was an even bigger hit. Don’t also was a nastier song with lyrics such as “Don’t with my love.” It has also been stated in the past that the actual lyrics were meant to be Don’t F**K with my love. Thinking Out Loud was a massive hit and is a tender love song ballad. It is one of Ed Sheeran’s longest charting songs. It also dominated radio. Photograph was decently played on radio but not to the degree as the other songs. That might have also just been for z100. Besides the singles, X has a lot of good songs. It is surprising that Bloodstream was never a single. Bloodstream is a dark song which Ed Sheeran performed at the Billboard Music Awards.

Ed Sheeran has had quite a successful career up to this point. X really started to take things to the next level paving the way for his later success including more monster hits and his first number one with Shape of You on the following album. Perfect, another love song that is heavily played at weddings, also went number one. Ed Sheeran has shown he is multifaceted and a one-man band. It will be interesting to see where Ed Sheeran goes next on his musical journey.