British Invasion on the Billboard Charts

03 Jul, 2014

Ed Sheeran scored his first US number one album, topping the Billboard 200 chart with his album X. With Sam Smith at number two, it is the first time two British solo artists have taken the US top two spots since Eric Clapton and Sting did it in 1993.

X, which is pronounced “multiply”, is Sheeran’s second album and includes his hit Sing, featuring Pharrell Williams. X sold 210,000 copies in the US last week, while Smith’s debut In the Lonely Hour notched up sales of 67,000.

In March 1993, Eric Clapton’s Unplugged was number one, ahead of Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales at number two, Billboard said.

This week, Sam Smith was also at number one on Billboard’s digital songs chart after his single Stay with Me was downloaded 211,000 times.

Elsewhere on the album chart, rapper G-Eazy’s These Things Happen debuted at number three, while last week’s number one, Ultraviolence by Lana Del Ray, slipped to fourth place.

The soundtrack to Disney’s Frozen spent its 28th consecutive week in the top five.

Sheeran’s debut album, which had the title +, peaked at number five in the US after its release in 2012.

The follow-up has already proved a huge success in the UK, beating Coldplay to the title of the fastest-selling album of the year.

Earlier this week, streaming service Spotify said the 23-year-old singer, who followed Dolly Parton on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on Sunday, had seen a 195% increase in requests for his tracks in the UK since his performance at the festival.

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