"Shape of You" is a song by English singer Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album ÷ (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The dancehall and R&B infused song was written by Sheeran, Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid. Due to its interpolation of "No Scrubs" by TLC, Kandi Burruss, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs are also credited as writers. The song was produced by Sheeran and Steve Mac.
Despite receiving mixed reviews from music critics, "Shape of You" peaked at number one on the singles charts of 34 countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100—later becoming the best performing song of 2017—as well as in the British, Australian, Canadian and Irish singles charts. It stayed at number one for a record-tying 16 consecutive weeks on the Canadian Hot 100, as well as 14 nonconsecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and 12 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also highly successful elsewhere, reaching number one in many European charts and throughout Latin America, as well as in Malaysia where it spent 12 non-consecutive weeks at the top.
On 10 December 2018, the song became the first song to hit 2 billion streams on Spotify. On July 13, 2026, “Shape of You” became the second song to reach 5 billion streams on the platform and is currently the 2nd most streamed song overall, behind "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd. It was also the most-streamed song of the decade on Spotify with 2.4 billion streams by December 2019, and the most streamed song on Apple Music with 930 million streams, as of May 2023. It was the best-selling song of 2017 and the decade in the UK. "Shape of You" was the best-selling song of 2017 and the second best-selling digital song worldwide, with combined sales and track-equivalent streams of 26.6 million units according to IFPI.
In 2018, it sold an additional 14.9 million copies, combining a total of 41.5 million copies worldwide with the previous total sales figure, making it one of the best selling digital singles of all time. Additionally, it made a second appearance in the Billboard year-end chart in 2018, at No. 71. In 2019, it was named the number-one song on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart of the 2010s decade. "Shape of You" was nominated for British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year at the 2018 Brit Awards. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.60th GRAMMY Awards: Full Nominees List National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 28 November 2017 In 2021, Billboard ranked "Shape of You" as the tenth most successful song of all time.
Background Written and recorded in 2016, "Shape of You" was the final song added to Ed Sheeran's third album ÷. As he had recently written all the songs he wanted for the album, the song was therefore not intended to be included in the album. It was first written for Little Mix and then it was conceived as a duet between Rihanna and Rudimental, but the head of the record label convinced him to keep the song for himself. He said: "['Shape of You'] is actually a really random one because I went in to write songs for other people with a guy called Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid, and we were writing this song and I was like 'this would really work for Rihanna,'" he explained. "And then I started singing lyrics like 'putting Van the Man on the jukebox' and I was like 'well she's not really going to sing that, is she?' And then we sort of decided halfway through that we were just going to make it for me."
According to Sheeran, Steve Mac started the songwriting session by playing the opening notes of the song on the keyboard. Sheeran then joined in, adding percussion by tapping on the guitar, layering it onto the track. On the writing of the song, he said that he tried to keep the music "more stripped" instead of something more elaborate: "I'm an acoustic artist, first and foremost. And when I play live, I can't replicate these things, I haven't got all the other musicians." Sheeran said he wanted an R&B feel to the song, therefore he adjusted the original tune, adding an interpolation of "No Scrubs" onto part of the melody. He also revealed that the original lyrics did not end with the words "the shape of you" in the chorus, but during the writing of the song, McDaid thought that the lyrics "I'm in love with your body" sounded objectifying, and the lyrics was therefore adjusted. In a March 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, Sheeran revealed that he had attempted to get a Jay-Z guest verse; Jay-Z declined, stating that he "doesn't think the song needs a rap verse".
Release On 6 January 2017, when hosting The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Sheeran revealed that "Shape of You" was written with Rihanna in mind. On 4 January 2017, Sheeran uploaded a six-second teaser video of a blue background to social media, with lyrics "the club isn't the best place to find a lover", which is the first line of "Shape of You". To further tease the release, Sheeran and his label used a sponsored Snapchat lens filter with 30 seconds of the song to increase buzz among the general public.
Composition
"Shape of You" has been characterised as pop, dancehall, and tropical house, with "strummy acoustics". "Shape of You" is written in the key of C-sharp minor with a tempo of 96 beats per minute. The song is composed in common time ( time), and follows a basic chord progression of Cm–Fm–A–B (i–iv–VI–VII), and Sheeran's vocals span from G3 to G5. It has a tresillo rhythm.
In the song, Sheeran sings over a marimba-fueled percussive sway about a budding romance: "The club isn't the best place to find a lover, so the bar is where I go/ Me and my friends at the table doing shots drinking fast and then we talk slow", he sings. "Come over and start up a conversation with just me/ And trust me I'll give it a chance." According to NT News, the song "tells the story of loved (or lusted) up Sheeran meeting a girl in a bar where he and his mates are doing shots."
The song's lyrical rhythm drew some comparisons to the 1999 TLC hit "No Scrubs", particularly in the pre-chorus line, "Boy, let's not talk too much/ Grab on my waist and put that body on me". Kandi Burruss had told Bravo's Andy Cohen that the negotiations had started before the song's release for its interpolation but weren't finalized until afterwards. As a result, the composers of "No Scrubs", Kandi Burruss, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, and Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, received co-writing credits on "Shape of You".
Critical reception The song received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Jon Caramanica from The New York Times said, "'Shape of You' is trickier, a nimble and effective song that takes the aggressive thinning of 'Caribbean music'." Billboards Taylor Weatherby wrote about the song saying, "'Shape of You' doesn't quite sound like your typical Sheeran tune. But that almost serves as an indication of what the 'Thinking Out Loud' singer has been up to during his hiatus: creating music that still feels like Sheeran, just with a new twist." Jeremy Gordon of Spin gave the song a positive review, stating that the song "is a plausible attempt at convincing us he has had sex ... a lot of it. It kind of slaps, though you can't really picture Sheeran ever saying 'put that body on me' to a real human woman." Entertainment Weekly gave the song a B+ rating, and Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 13 on its "50 best songs of 2017" list. USA Today ranked it at number 36 of 2017 singles.
Uproxx ranked the song at number 3 on its "The Worst Songs Of 2017" list: "The contrarian in me is always tempted to defend Ed Sheeran, because it's way too easy to take shots at this guy... Then I hear the part in 'Shape Of You' where he says, 'And last night you were in my room / And now my bedsheets smell like you.' And now I want to push him into a locker." Spin and Esquire listed it as one of the worst songs of 2017.
Commercial performance "Shape of You" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 13 January 2017, selling 227,000 combined units in its first week and becoming Sheeran's third UK number one. Sheeran also debuted at number two with the song "Castle on the Hill", making him the first artist in UK chart history to debut in the top two positions simultaneously. It spent 13 consecutive weeks at number one, and a further week at the top after a week's interruption by Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times". In July 2017, the song reached 184 million in streams, making it the most-streamed song in the UK of all time until November 2022, when it was overtaken by Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved". It was the nation's highest selling and most streamed track of 2017 with 787,000 copies sold and 248 million streams throughout the year, to produce a combined sales of 3.2 million. In September 2020, the track was certified eight-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). "Shape of You" is Sheeran's best-selling single in the UK with total sales of 5.09 million units as of July 2021, according to the Official Charts Company.
The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 240,000 downloads and gaining 20 million streams in its debut week in the US, becoming Sheeran's first number one song in the country. Sheeran also became the first artist to debut two songs in the top 10 the same week in the history of the Hot 100, with "Castle on the Hill" also debuting at number six. "Shape of You" topped the Hot 100 for 12 non-consecutive weeks. In its fourth week at number one, the song also topped the Mainstream Top 40, becoming Sheeran's second number-one single on the chart (after 2015's "Thinking Out Loud"). On 6 May 2017, it fell to number two on the Hot 100, being displaced by Kendrick Lamar's "Humble". On the issue date, 2 September 2017, "Shape of You" spent its 32nd week in the top ten of Hot 100, tying the record for the most weeks on that chart with LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live" and the Chainsmokers' "Closer" featuring Halsey. The following week, "Shape of You" spent its 33rd consecutive week in the top 10, breaking the 20-year-old record. This record would be tied twice and eventually broken in 2020 by Post Malone's "Circles." On Billboards Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, "Shape of You" became Sheeran's first number one on a Dance/EDM chart (his third top ten and sixth overall at Dance/Mix Show Airplay) in the United States."Kygo & Selena Gomez's 'It Ain't Me' Debuts in Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart's Top 10" from Billboard (22 February 2017) Afterwards, the song topped Dance Club Songs in its 18 March 2017 issue, his first as a solo artist and his second entry on this chart, when he was a featured artist on Rudimental's "Lay It All on Me", which peaked at No. 38 in 2016."The Chainsmokers Charge to Third Consecutive No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs" from Billboard (9 March 2017) By August 2017, "Shape of You" was the best selling song of 2017 in the US with 2.3 million copies sold, the only one to sell over two million. It is also the most streamed song with 799.7 million combined audio and video streams. The song became the number one song of the year on Billboard Hot 100 in 2017, and the second best-selling song in the US after "Despacito" with over 2.5 million copies sold.