Ed Sheeran has revealed that he's "incredibly chuffed" to become the first artist ever to score the top top spots in the chart simultaneously with his two new singles.
The much-loved singer-songwriter marked his comeback after a year's hiatus from the music scene last week by surprising fans with two new tracks, Shape of You and Castle On The Hill, which are the first releases from him upcoming album ÷ (Divide).
Shape of You has flown straight to number one in the singles chart followed by Castle On The Hill in second position.
According to the Official Charts Company, his total sale in the past week have reached 421,000 across both singles.
This makes Ed's comeback the biggest opening week for an artist since Adele's record-breaking return in November 2015 with Hello, which had combined sale of 332,000.
Sheeran said: "Both tracks mean a huge amount to me so it really is amazing to see them go to the top of the chart together on the first week.
"I can't wait for everyone to hear the rest of the album in March."
Keeping with the mathematical theme, Sheeran's third LP follows + in 2011 and x in 2014 and will be released on March 3.
When talking about his new record on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show last week, Sheeran described the album as "schizophrenic" with "lots of different sounds" and confirmed to host Scott Mills that an Irish folk group feature on the record.
"They're called Beoga," said Sheeran. "They're from Northern Ireland; they are really, really talented. They came to my house to stay and we made some songs. Two of them have made the record. It's jammy, it's folky."
Sheeran described Castle on the Hill as "a love song to Suffolk" while Shape of You, which was co-written with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, is a floor filler with a hip hop beat.
