Ed Sheeran’s ‘=’ Blasts to No. 1 In U.K.

Ed Sheeran’s = (Equals) (via Asylum) flies to No. 1 in the U.K. for his fifth leader, crushing its competitors along the way.

Equals debuts atop the Official U.K. Albums Chart with 139,000 chart sales, the biggest opening week for any album in the U.K. this year, according to the OCC.

With that tally, Equals outperforms the rest of this week’s Top 30 combined, a list that includes new entries from Richard Ashcroft, The War on Drugs and a classic Spice Girls reissue.

Of that lofty sum, 68% was physical sales, including 11,600 copies on vinyl, the week’s best-seller on wax. Meanwhile, streaming generated 18% of combined sales, and the remainder (14%) was downloads.

Meanwhile, former Verve frontman Ashcroft bows at No. 2 with his retrospective Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1 (BMG), for his sixth U.K. Top 10 album, while the 25th anniversary reissue of Spice Girls’ debut Spice (UMC/Virgin) heats at up No. 5.

Philadelphia rock outfit The War On Drugs start at No. 6 with I Don’t Live Here Anymore (Atlantic). It’s their second appearance in the Top 10, following 2017’s A Deeper Understanding, which peaked at No. 3.

Over on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, Adele holds top spot for a third week with her hit comeback track “Easy On Me.”

It was anything but an easy victory for Adele, whose latest smash raked-in 78,600 combined sales, just 3,200 ahead of Sheeran’s No. 2-ranked “Shivers.”

With Equals steamrolling the albums chart, three tracks from it place high in the current singles chart, led by “Shivers,” ”Bad Habits” (No. 3) and “Overpass Graffiti” (No. 4), the biggest digital download of the week with 23,400 sales, the OCC reports.