“He’s a one-off for this generation”: Nova’s Paul Jackson on Ed Sheeran’s perfect storm
It may seem like just another week forEd Sheeranbut, in fact, ‘Perfect’ is now the top dog off multi-platinum albumDivide,having earned more weeks at #1 on theTMN Hot 100 airplay chart than smash singles ‘Castle On The Hill’ and ‘Shape Of You’.
‘Perfect’ caps off an exceptional year for the hailed songwriter. The latest Hot 100 issue sees the romantic ballad cruising in pole position for a sixth straight week. Overall, Sheeran’s fourDividesingles (including ‘Galway Girl’ which peaked at #3) have spent a total of 15 weeks at the top of the chart since ‘Castle’hit the peak in January.
According toBradMcNicol, music director KIIS Sydney and Melbourne, Sheeran is making a habit of breaking records and reestablishing the benchmark for artists in the industry.McNicol isalso finding ithard to ditch anyDividecutsfromthe playlist, despite their age.
“Ed Sheeran decided to change the game right at the start of the year by simultaneously dropping two tracks from his upcoming album,”McNicolsaid.
“As a result, Ed became the first artist to have simultaneous debuts at #1 and #2 on the ARIA Singles Chart with ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Castle On The Hill’, both of which are still in the playlist!
“His incredible year continues with ‘Perfect’ currently sitting at #1 on iTunes and his upcoming 2018 Aussie tour set to be the biggest stadium tour in over 30 years,” the MD added.
While KIIS is continuing to pump outDividetracks across their airwaves, Nova stations are spinning ‘Perfect’ more than any other network in the country, spearheaded byNOVA Entertainment’s group program directorPaul Jackson.
“Ed’s success this year has been absolutely staggering. He’s a one-man show in a league of his own. He makes it all look so effortless as he writes classic after classic for himself and many other artists.
“He’s a one-off for this generation.”
Sheeran’s not done with 2017 just yet. He’s recently released a duet remix of ‘Perfect’ alongside Queen BeeBeyoncé, and whileit’s still early days, the entire Nova network has alreadyplaylisted the new track (including both smooth stations), making it a good shoutfor this week’s Most Added crown – Sheeran’sthird of the year.
Speaking exclusively to Nova last week–which also scored the first national spin of the remix, Sheeran confirmed a thirdversion of ‘Perfect’is on its way andwill drop closer to Christmas.
“…There is one more thing that drops with ‘Perfect’ that has nothing to do with anything that’s come out yet, there’s one more thing that’s going to come out just before Christmas, a sort of version of ‘Perfect’ to come out.”