Ed Sheeran has been a pretty hot commodity on the record charts for the last several years. He had hit after hit like “Perfect” and “Shape of You.” His albums with mathematical symbols for titles — Plus, Equals, Divide — sold millions.
But this year Sheeran’s record sales have nosedived. Hitsdailydouble predicts his new, surprise album called “Autumn Variations,” will debut on Friday at number 4. Total sales are expected around just 65,000!
“Autumn Variations” is Sheeran’s second album in six months. Back in May, minutes before he won his plagiarism lawsuit over Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On,” Sheeran released the last of his math albums, called “Minus” or “Subtract.” For Sheeran the album was a dud, selling just 321,000 copies according to Luminate.
Nevertheless, Sheeran went on a successful tour and turns up like a jolly Leprechaun on talk shows when they’re on the air.
“Autumn Variations” is a snooze, to be truthful. It’s’ like a collection unproduced demos that even his fans don’t want.
But it does seem like Sheeran, though he won the Marvin Gaye case, has turned off the record buying segment of his followers. They’re just not buying anything. That’s a headscratcher because you’d think the fans would have rallied around his win in court. But maybe they started listening to “Thinking Out Loud,” the offending song, and other Sheeran hits and hearing similarities with older hits. (“Perfect” sounds a lot like “Unchained Melody” for example.)
I hope “Autumn Variations” isn’t a prelude to Winter, Spring, and Summer albums. It doesn’t seem like that will work out.
