DIVIDE SALES MULTIPLY IN THE U.K.

Ed Sheeran has smashed through first-week sales projections in the U.K., with ÷ (Atlantic) currently at 590k and likely to top 600k by Friday. Adele aside, the last album to top that over the course of seven days in Blighty was two decades ago when Oasis’ sold 813k for Be Here Now (Big Brother) in ’97.

Sheeran will take third place on the list of fastest-selling albums of all time in the U.K., behind Adele with 25 (XL), which did 803k during its first week in 2015.

Take That are #4 with Progress, which sold 519k (Polydor) during its first week in 2010, followed byColdplay’s X & Y (Parlophone) with 464k in ’05.

Here’s another mind-blowing stat: Sheeran has notched up 88m track streams this week. Wowzers.