Ed Sheeran selected for UK artist of the decade

Ed Sheeran has been named the number one artist of the decade by the Official Charts Company, the group responsible for compiling the UK pop charts.

With 12 number-one singles and albums between 2010 and 2019, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter has achieved more than any other artist in his league. In addition, he spent the most weeks at number one across both charts, at 79 weeks.

"This is nuts," Sheeran said. "I didn't really expect to have a career past five years, so to be able to have done it for a decade... Thank you to everyone who's supported me over the past ten years, especially my amazing fans. Here's to the next ten."

Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, had high praise to levy on the icon.

"Ed truly has dominated this decade and is a worthy recipient of this amazing new award," he said. "At the start of the decade, he was a little-known (albeit highly rated) young 18-year-old lad from Suffolk—but his catalogue of achievements since then are genuinely remarkable. Today, he is firmly established among the highest level of global music superstars."

"Shape of You"—Sheeran's 2017 hit single—was named the biggest song of the decade. It spent 14 weeks at number one and accrued more than 4.5 million in sales.