Thinking Out Loud

The Creation and Chart History of "Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran

"Thinking Out Loud" is one of the most commercially successful and enduringly popular songs of Ed Sheeran's career, a slow-burning romantic ballad that combined soul and R&B influences with singer-songwriter craftsmanship to produce a record that spent nearly a year on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a fixture of radio, weddings, and popular culture throughout the mid-2010s. The song was released as part of Sheeran's second studio album, X (pronounced "multiply"), which came out in June 2014 through Asylum and Atlantic Records.

X represented a significant artistic step for Sheeran, building on the success of his debut + (2011) and demonstrating his evolution as a songwriter and performer. The album was recorded over an extended period involving multiple collaborators and producers, and "Thinking Out Loud" was written by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge, a Welsh singer-songwriter with whom Sheeran had developed a close creative friendship. Wadge had been a significant figure in his early development as a musician, and their collaboration on this track produced what became the emotional centerpiece of the album.

According to accounts from both writers, "Thinking Out Loud" was composed in a single evening at Amy Wadge's home, a relatively uncommon origin for a song of its commercial magnitude. Sheeran brought the chord progression and initial melodic ideas, and the two developed the lyrical and structural framework together over the course of a few hours. This spontaneous origin gave the song a naturalness and directness that more labored compositions sometimes lack, and both writers have expressed that the ease of its creation was reflective of the strength of their creative rapport.

Production of the track was handled by Jake Gosling, who had produced Sheeran's debut album and maintained a close working relationship with him. Gosling's production on "Thinking Out Loud" was deliberately understated, centering the arrangement on Sheeran's acoustic guitar and voice before layering in complementary elements including rhythm guitar, bass, subtle keyboard textures, and a classic soul-influenced horn arrangement. The production's restraint served the song's intimate emotional content, allowing the romantic sincerity of the lyrics and melody to register without distraction.

Released as a single from X in October 2014, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 25, 2014, at number 69. Its initial chart movement was modest and inconsistent, reflecting the gradual word-of-mouth build that would eventually carry it to the top of the chart. By late November and December 2014 it was climbing more steadily, and it continued its ascent through early 2015. The song reached its peak of number 2 on January 31, 2015, held back from the top position by the dominant run of "Uptown Funk!" at number one. It spent an extraordinary 58 weeks on the Hot 100, a testament to its sustained popularity across multiple seasons.

The song won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016, a recognition that affirmed its status as one of the most significant songwriting achievements of the year. It also won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance. These recognitions placed "Thinking Out Loud" among the handful of songs from the mid-2010s to achieve both massive commercial success and the highest level of industry recognition for craftsmanship.

The music video, choreographed and directed with an emphasis on ballroom-style dancing, became one of the most-watched videos of 2014 and 2015, with Sheeran's performance demonstrating a physicality and grace that surprised audiences accustomed to his reputation as a purely acoustic performer. The video's visual elegance amplified the song's romantic ambience and contributed substantially to its cultural ubiquity.

The song has since become a standard choice at weddings worldwide and a staple of soft rock and adult contemporary radio. However, "Thinking Out Loud" also became entangled in extensive copyright litigation: heirs to the estate of soul musician Ed Townsend filed suit alleging that the song's chord progression and rhythm were substantially similar to Marvin Gaye and Townsend's "Let's Get It On" (1973). After years of legal proceedings, the case went to trial in 2023, with the jury ultimately finding in Sheeran's favor.