Ed Sheeran's 10 best songs so far, ranked

24 March 2021, 16:45

In just 10 years, Ed Sheeran has become one of the world's biggest popstars, selling hundreds of millions of records and packing out stadiums everywhere.

He may have started his career with awkward auditions on short-lived reality TV shows, but Ed Sheeran has since become a pop megaforce, where everything he touches seems to turn into gold.

Read more: Ed Sheeran facts: Singer's age, wife, baby, net worth and more revealed

On top of it all, he also seems to be a thoroughly nice bloke, to boot.

Here's our pick of his 10 most gorgeous songs so far...

1. Give Me Love

   

   Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love (Official Music Video)

   This was the sixth and final single from Ed's debut album +.

   He said of the song: "It was one of those songs where you get very inspired by a situation and it falls out of you in 20 minutes. It was a very easy song to write."

   "It's about a relationship that fell apart and you're asking for it to be put back together. Most people get to a point where they drink themselves into a dark corner in that situation. It's that point of view."

2. Sing

   

   Ed Sheeran - Sing [Official Music Video]

   This upbeat track was the lead single from Ed's second album x, and was produced and featured Pharrell Williams. It was quite the different sound to what people were used to from Ed at the time.

   Inspired by the R&B/pop sound of Justin Timberlake, the song is about a night out in Las Vegas.

3. Shape of You

   

   Ed Sheeran - Shape of You (Official Music Video)

   Written with Steve Mac and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, this pop anthem features elements of TLC's classic track 'No Scrubs'.

   It was a humongous hit around the world, and was the first song to achieve over 2 billion streams on Spotify.

4. Happier

   

   Ed Sheeran - Happier (Official Music Video)

   According to Ed, this song is about looking back at an early relationship and, despite at first being angry about the breakup, later coming to realise that his first love was happier with someone else.

   He said: "I remember the first girl I was with, that the first and most of the second album was about, that I was with from school. And I remember the guy she was with, meeting him one day and being like, he is so much suited to her than I ever was.

   "Seeing them together, we never looked like that, we were never that couple, we were never that happy. So it was having a kind of epiphany moment, and writing a song that was basically that."

5. The A Team

   

   Ed Sheeran - The A Team [Official Music Video]

   This was Ed Sheeran's first proper single in 2011, and was the first many people had found his music.

   The folk ballad refers to a prostitute addicted to drugs, and was written after Ed visited a homeless shelter and heard some of the stories about the people there. He wrote the song following a last-minute performance at an event for the homeless.

6. I See Fire

   

   Ed Sheeran - I See Fire (Music Video)

   This track was commissioned for the soundtrack of the 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, where it was played over the closing credits.

   The Hobbit director Peter Jackson asked Ed to write a song for the film after Jackson's daughter Katie suggested the singer.

   Ed saw the film, wrote the song, and recorded most of the track on the same day.

7. Supermarket Flowers

   

   Ed Sheeran – “Supermarket Flowers” Yoriko Hoshi Version

   This heartbreaking ballad is about Ed's late grandmother. He said: "She was in a hospital near my house where I was making the album so I saw her quite a lot while making the album and she passed away while I was in the studio.

   "So that's my first reaction for anything that happens to me, good or bad, pick up a guitar."

   Ed's father first suggested that he should play the song at her funeral, which he did, and his grandfather then urged that it should be included on his next album.

8. Photograph

   

   Ed Sheeran - Photograph (Official Music Video)

   This ballad was written with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid, and was a single from Ed's x album.

   The lyrics of the song chronicle a long-distance relationship, and were inspired by Ed's own experience on such a romance, having dated fellow singer Nina Nesbitt for over a year.

9. Thinking Out Loud

   

   Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud (Official Music Video)

   A huge hit around the world, this ballad became the first song ever to spend a year inside the UK top 40.

   Written with Amy Wadge, Ed referred to it as a perfect "walking down the aisle song".

10. Perfect

    

    Ed Sheeran - Perfect (Official Music Video)

    A stunning romantic ballad inspired by his future wife Cherry Seaborn, this song became the Christmas number one in the UK for 2017.

    Read more: The Story of... 'Perfect'

    Ed also released versions as duets with both Beyoncé and Andrea Boccelli.