"Thinking Out Loud" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran recorded for his second studio album, '' ×'' (2014). It was written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the US on 24 September 2014 as the album's third single. In the UK, the song spent 19 weeks within the top 40 before peaking at number one in early November 2014; it became Sheeran's second number one single there. The single has also reached the top spot in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovakia and South Africa, and peaked at number two on both the US ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

. It was Sheeran's highest-charting single in North America until " Shape of You" topped the charts in both countries in 2017. In June 2015, "Thinking Out Loud" became the first single to spend a full year in the UK top 40. In September 2015, it also became the seventh single to have achieved triple platinum certification in the UK during the 21st century. In October 2015, the song became the first to be streamed over 500 million times on Spotify, is also one of the most streamed songs in the UK and has been viewed more than 3.4 billion times on YouTube as of April 2022. "Thinking Out Loud" received nominations for

Grammy Award for Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

Song of the Year Song of the Year may refer to: * Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year * Dove Award for Song of the Year * Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year * Grammis Song of the Year * Grammy Award for Song of the Year * Latin Grammy Awa ...

and Best Pop Solo Performance at the

58th Grammy Awards The 58th Annual Grammy Awards was held on February 15, 2016, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony recognizes the best recordings, compositions and artists of the eligibility year, which was from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 201 ...

, winning the latter two.

Background and writing

Sheeran wrote "Thinking Out Loud" with Amy Wadge, a Wales-based singer-songwriter. He met Wadge when he was 17 years old and they had since written several songs together. Of these, five songs composed the extended play '' Songs I Wrote with Amy'', which Sheeran independently released on 4 April 2010. Wadge also co-wrote the song "Gold Rush", a track on the deluxe version of Sheeran's debut album, '' +'' (2011). In February 2014, Wadge visited Sheeran at home for a "chilling-out time". Around that time, Sheeran's second studio album, '' ×'', was nearly completed. Wadge revealed that her visit was not supposed to be a songwriting session. While Sheeran was taking a shower, Wadge played a few chords on a guitar. The tune caught the attention of Sheeran and he ran downstairs. Sheeran suggested working with the tune, but only after returning home from dinner, work began. The melody developed from a simple riff. According to Sheeran, he composed the melody on a guitar in a manner which was "very Van-like", referring to Van Morrison. The Irish musician has been an inspiration to Sheeran since a young age, and Sheeran wanted to capture that vibe when he composed the song. In the kitchen, Sheeran and Wadge began writing the song at 2:00am on 4 February 2014, and completed it in 20 minutes. According to Wadge, the lyrical content resulted from her and Sheeran's talking about "everlasting love", inspired by the circumstances relevant at that time. Sheeran also revealed that the lyrics were inspired by his then-girlfriend, Athina Andrelos, whom Sheeran met in early 2014. Sheeran would later explain that he wrote the song "in a relationship at a really, really happy point". Immediately after writing, Sheeran recorded the song on his phone. He was keen to include "Thinking Out Loud" on the second album. He properly recorded the song the following day at the Sticky Studios, a recording facility located in the small

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

village of Windlesham, and informed Wadge of its inclusion on the album. It became the last song recorded for the album. For "Thinking Out Loud", Sheeran sought the assistance of Jake Gosling, who produced much of his debut album and had earlier contributed tracks, four of which appear on the standard version of the second album.

Composition

"Thinking Out Loud" is a romantic ballad with

blue-eyed soul Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly-black Motown and Stax ...

influences. Sheeran referred to it as a "walking down the aisle song". In the lyrics, Sheeran reflects on "getting older and fidelity and love in a fairly conventional context", according to Eric Clarke, professor of music at University of Oxford. The song was composed in the key of D major with a tempo of 79 beats per minute. Sheeran's vocals range from B₂ to A₄. In the mix, Sheeran's voice is "unusually" loud over the instruments, which, for Mike Senior of the music technology magazine, '' Sound on Sound'', is "surprisingly rare" in contemporary records. Senior analysed the vocal elements in which he found that, in spite of several notes sung off pitch, "the overall framework of the vocal remains fundamentally in tune". Journalists noted similarities between "Thinking Out Loud" and "Let's Get It On", a 1973 single by soul musician, Marvin Gaye. Andrew Unterberger of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' wrote that "the gently loping four-note bass pattern and crisp '70s soul drums absolutely smack of the Gaye classic, as do the embrace-insistent lyrics and general candlelit-bedroom feel". Jason Lipshutz of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called it a "sleek update" of the classic.

Release

Prior to the album release, Sheeran debuted "Thinking Out Loud" on 24 May 2014 by performing it live on the British music television show, '' Later... with Jools Holland''. The debut followed the release of the video accompaniment to "

Sing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

", the album's lead single. "Thinking Out Loud" was immediately perceived as having contrast to "Sing", which is a "high-energy funk/R&B-infused song". "Thinking Out Loud" became available on 18 June 2014 as an "instant grat" download for consumers who pre-ordered ''×'' on the iTunes Store. It served as a promotional single from ''×'', which was released two days later. On the standard version of the album, "Thinking Out Loud" is the next-to-last track, the last being " Afire Love". "Thinking Out Loud" was initially serviced to Australian radio on 14 August 2014 and later released on 24 September 2014. It served as the third of five singles released from the album; it followed the songs, "Sing" and "Don't", the first and second single respectively. According to Sheeran, no one from his record label wanted to release "Thinking Out Loud" as a single, favouring over "

Photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

" as the "big song". "Photograph" was supposed to be the main single, but when "Thinking Out Loud" spent several weeks within the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart albeit not receiving

rotation Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...

, the latter song was kept as the third single. "Photograph" was later released as the fifth and final single. "Thinking Out Loud" was issued on

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

exclusively as part of the Black Friday Record Store Day, which was celebrated on 28 November 2014. The vinyl record included, as a B-side, the live version of "I'm A Mess" which Sheeran performed at the Lightship 95 studio. On 26 December 2015, Sheeran released an Irish-language version of "Thinking Out Loud" for the Irish album ''CEOL 2016''.

Critical reception

Lauren Murphy of '' The Irish Times'' noted that the "injection of blue-eyed soul" on the song is "enjoyable", and that it "makes Sheeran's aptitude for melody difficult to dismiss". Jim Beviglia of the '' American Songwriter'' thought that although "tidy", "Thinking Out Loud" comes "toothless" compared with the "daring confessionals" Sheeran made on the other songs. '' The Washington Post'' writer, Allison Stewart, has hailed the song as "a blatant and mercilessly effective bid for ' I'll Be'-style wedding-song immortality". ''

'' magazine's Jason Lipshutz, commented that Sheeran "pushes this bold stab at romance past its sappiest moments, and ends the album on a likable note". Jamieson Cox of '' Time'' wrote that "the album’s greatest moment by a country mile is relegated to its penultimate slot", referring to "Thinking Out Loud".

Chart performance

"Thinking Out Loud" topped several charts in Europe, Oceania and South Africa, and reached the top ten in several other countries in North America (see Weekly charts below). Upon the album's release, the single debuted at number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. On 2 November 2014, "Thinking Out Loud" topped the UK Singles Chart in its 19th week in the Top 40 becoming Sheeran's second UK number one and breaking the record for the longest ascent to number one. In the week ending 27 June 2015, it had spent a record consecutive 52 weeks (or a full year) inside the top 40. Around the same time, the single had accumulated 1.65 million combined sales and streams; it became one of the 161 million-selling singles and the 26th best-selling of the 2010s in the UK. On 18 September 2015, the British Phonographic Industry certified the single triple platinum for combined sales (including streaming points) of 1,800,000 units. As of September 2017, the song has sold 1,219,000 copies with 130 million streams, making a total of 2,521,000 units sold in the United Kingdom. In November 2022, its certification was upgraded to septuple platinum, denoting sales and streams of over 4,200,000. In the US, "Thinking Out Loud" peaked at number two on the all-encompassing chart ''Billboard'' Hot 100; the single became Sheeran's highest-charting single until the release of " Shape of You" in 2017. It remained the runner-up spot for eight consecutive weeks, a chart feat last held in 2004. "Thinking Out Loud" was kept off the top spot by " Uptown Funk", although it outperformed the latter song for a week in February 2015 on the ''Billboard''

Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by '' Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally sta ...

. On other specific US charts, "Thinking Out Loud" reached number one on the ''Billboard''

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen B ...

for the week ending 21 February 2015, marking Sheeran's first. For the week ending 21 March 2015, "Thinking Out Loud" held the top position on the ''Billboard'' Pop Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary charts, becoming the fourth song in history to lead all three adult charts simultaneously. In celebration of Google Play's fifth anniversary, Google announced "Thinking Out Loud" as the top selling song on the platform. "Thinking Out Loud" is Sheeran's best-selling song in the United States, with 5,622,000 copies sold as of September 2017.

On streaming services

In the UK, Sheeran's native country, "Thinking Out Loud" claimed the record for the most streams in a single week in December 2014. The track accumulated over 1,638,000 streams, and subsequently achieved a personal best of 1,850,000 streams in the week ending 21 December 2014. This record has since been broken by several songs. In April 2015, the song ranked as the most popular based on the 2.8 million sleep-themed playlists created by Spotify users. Sleep is one of the company's most popular categories that, according to Spotify, "people also use for general relaxation and to help themselves unwind". '' The Guardian'' columnist

Tim Dowling Robert Timothy Dowling (; born June 1963) is an American journalist and author who writes a weekly column in ''The Guardian'' about his life with his family in London. Career Dowling worked in data entry for a films database before he became a fr ...

suggested that the report indicated "very popular, slightly mellow songs that keep cropping up on sleep playlists" but not a list of a "carefully curated journey to unconsciousness". In October 2015, "Thinking Out Loud" set the record of most

streams A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

of a song on Spotify, having accumulated over 500 million streams. The company created the "Sheerio Index", an interactive graphic map which showed where Sheeran was most popular. The color-based map indicated that Sheeran was most popular in Denmark. It was surpassed a month later by "

Lean On "Lean On" is a song recorded by American electronic dance music group Major Lazer and French DJ and record producer DJ Snake featuring vocals from Danish singer MØ. It was released on March 2, 2015, as the lead single from Major Lazer's third ...

", a song by Major Lazer and DJ Snake featuring

MØ Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen (; born 13 August 1988), known professionally as MØ (), is a Danish singer and songwriter. She signed a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment in 2012, releasing her debut extended play, ''Bikini ...

Music video

Emil Nava directed the video accompaniment to the single. Most of it was filmed in the Crystal Ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The video was shot continuously using a

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

camera. Unlike Sheeran's earlier videos, where he assumed a low profile, he took the lead role on "Thinking Out Loud". In the video, Sheeran executes a contemporary dance with Brittany Cherry, a contestant from the televised American dance competition, ''So You Think You Can Dance''. The routine was choreographed by Nappytabs and with training help from Paul Karmiryan. While on concert tour, Sheeran spent five hours a day for three weeks to practice with Cherry. The video was released on October 7, 2014. After the first 24 hours, the video had over 2.7 million views on video-sharing website, YouTube. As of October 2022, it has 3.5 billion views, making it the 17th most viewed video on the site. The music video received four nominations at the

2015 MTV Video Music Awards The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015. The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, followe ...

including Video of the Year and Best Male Video.

Live performances

On 26 October 2014, Sheeran performed the song on third live results show of

series 11 Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

of '' The X Factor''. He also performed it on 9 November 2014 in the

2014 MTV Europe Music Awards The 2014 MTV EMAs (also known as the MTV Europe Music Awards) were held at The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland on 9 November 2014. This was the first time since 2003 when the awards were held in Scotland and the fifth time the United Kingdom has h ...

. Sheeran also performed the song as a special guest at '' The Voice''s live finale on 16 December 2014. Furthermore, Sheeran performed the track on the Christmas Special of '' The Jonathan Ross Show'' on 20 December 2014. He also performed the song at the

57th Annual Grammy Awards The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time ...

on 8 February 2015 along with

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

, Adam Blackstone, and

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

. Sheeran performed "Thinking Out Loud" on 13 April 2015 results show of the second series of '' The X Factor'' in New Zealand. Sheeran also performed "Thinking Out Loud" at the

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2014 The ''Victoria's Secret Fashion Show'' is an annual fashion show sponsored by Victoria's Secret, a brand of lingerie and sleepwear. Victoria's Secret uses the show to promote and market its goods in high-profile settings. The show features some o ...

Parodies and usage in media

On 28 April 2015 episode of '' The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'', actor

Jeremy Renner Jeremy Lee Renner (born January 7, 1971) is an American actor and musician. He began his career by appearing in independent films such as '' Dahmer'' (2002) and ''Neo Ned'' (2005), then supporting roles in bigger films, such as ''S.W.A.T.'' (2 ...

, known for his role as Hawkeye in the ''

Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...

'' movies, performed on piano and sang a song captioned by Fallon's show on YouTube as "Hawkeye Sings About His Super Powers". While not parodying Sheeran's lyrics, it is sung to the same tune. The lyrics suggest that Hawkeye feels defensive compared with the other Avengers as he was the only mortally human one in a team of superhuman or enhanced heroes: "But listen, I've got powers too; they're pretty sweet. / I promise I can do so much more than just archery ... / I can open a pickle jar. / I'm friggin' Hawkeye. / Maybe I'm as super as they are." The song and video were also parodied in the CW series ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

''. Titled "Let's Have Intercourse", the song was sung by

Scott Michael Foster Scott Michael Foster (born March 4, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Captain John Paul "Cappie" Jones in the ABC Family comedy-drama series ''Greek'' (2007–11), Leo Hendrie in the ABC Family drama ''Chasing Life'' ...

with Rachel Bloom appearing in the scene dancing with Foster in the same manner as Sheeran and Cherry. The lyrics are an appeal by Foster's

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

, Nathaniel Plimpton III, to series protagonist Rebecca Bunch (Bloom) to have sex whilst trapped in an elevator. The song was featured in the 2016 film ''

Me Before You ''Me Before You'' is a romance novel written by Jojo Moyes. The book was first published on 5 January 2012 in the United Kingdom. A sequel titled ''After You'' was released on 24 September 2015 through Pamela Dorman Books. A second sequel, ''St ...

.'' It was also covered in the film ''

Bridget Jones's Baby ''Bridget Jones's Baby'' is a 2016 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Emma Thompson, based on the fictional columns by Fielding. It is the third film in the franchise and a sequel to the ...

.'' This song was also used during a December 25, 2017 Christmas

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

Game between the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

and the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

during the 2017–18 NBA season.

Plagiarism allegations

On 10 August 2016, it was revealed that the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's " Let's Get It On" was suing Ed Sheeran saying "the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of 'Thinking' are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of 'Let's et It On." The case was dismissed without prejudice in February 2017. Two years later, on 28 June 2018, Ed Sheeran was again sued on similar grounds, this time for $100 million in damages by Structured Asset Sales, owners of one-third of the copyright to "Let's Get It On". On 26 April 2023, Sheeran had testified to the copyright trial about that matter.

Formats and track listings

*7" vinyl #"Thinking Out Loud" #" I'm a Mess" *CD single #"Thinking Out Loud" #"I'm a Mess" *Digital download #"Thinking Out Loud" –3:02 *EP #"Thinking Out Loud" #"

Don't Don't, Dont, or DONT may refer to: Films * ''Don't'' (1925 film), a 1925 silent comedy film * ''Don't'' (1974 film), a 1974 film about the monarch butterfly * ''Don't'', a fake trailer from the film ''Grindhouse'' (2007) Songs * "Don't" (Bill ...

" #"

" #"Thinking Out Loud" #"Don't" #"Sing"

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album liner notes: Ed Sheeran, (2014). X. lbum liner notes and credits Asylum Records/Atlantic Records. *Ed Sheeran – vocals, writer, acoustic guitar * Chris Leonard – electric guitar, hammond organ, bass *Peter Gosling – piano *Jake Gosling – producer, keyboards, programming, drums, percussion *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...

– mixing *Stuart Hawkes – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Chad Brownlee version

Canadian country singer Chad Brownlee recorded a cover version and released it as a single in 2015. He also released a video of himself performing the song.

Chart performance

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 2014 songs 2014 singles 2015 singles 2010s ballads Ed Sheeran songs Chad Brownlee songs Song recordings produced by Jake Gosling Songs written by Ed Sheeran Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Scotland South African Airplay Chart number-one singles Soul ballads Grammy Award for Song of the Year Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance Songs involved in plagiarism controversies Songs written by Amy Wadge Blue-eyed soul songs Asylum Records singles Atlantic Records singles Rock ballads

Background and writing

Composition

Release

Critical reception

Chart performance

On streaming services

Music video

Live performances

Parodies and usage in media

Plagiarism allegations

Formats and track listings

Credits and personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Chad Brownlee version

Chart performance

See also

References

External links