Castle on the Hill
"Castle on the Hill" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album ÷ (2017), along with "Shape of You".[4] "Castle on the Hill" was written and produced by Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco. The song refers to Framlingham Castle in Sheeran's home town of Framlingham in Suffolk, and reminisces tales of his upbringing in the town. The BBC states, "the song has been described as a love letter to Suffolk."[5]
For other uses, see Castle on the Hill (disambiguation)."Castle on the Hill"
2015
6 January 2017
2015
4:22
- Benny Blanco
- Ed Sheeran
Released on the same day as "Shape of You", "Castle on the Hill" reached number one in Iceland, Scotland and Israel. The song also reached number two in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia and Germany, while "Shape of You" debuted at number one. It was the first time in the history of the UK, Australian and German charts that an artist has taken the top two chart positions with new songs.[6][7][8] The song debuted at number six in the US, while "Shape of You" entered at number one; this made Sheeran the first artist ever to have two songs simultaneously debut in the US top 10.[9] "Castle on the Hill" is certified nine-times platinum in Australia, Diamond in Canada and 6-times platinum the UK, and multiplatinum in numerous other countries.
Critical reception[edit]
Jon Caramanica from The New York Times said, "'Castle on the Hill' has U2 influenced nervous guitar builds and wistful, largely generic lyrics about the people who shaped him."[12] Billboard's Taylor Weatherby wrote about the song saying, "'Castle on the Hill' has a Train like vibe with a fast-paced, yet powerful melody that builds to an epic chorus that's just as Sheeran as all of his past singles. Needless to say, Sheeran is telling the world he's back in compelling fashion."[13] Jeremy Gordon of Spin gave the song a positive review, stating that the song "sort of sounds like late period Coldplay, big, broad stroke music for arenas and Wembley performances. There's a lyric about driving down a country road while listening to Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer,' because Ed Sheeran saw Almost Famous once."[14] Adam Starkey from news website Metro states that it "'has echoes of Mumford & Sons with the kind of climbing drums and soaring chorus sure to win over festival crowds, recalling how far he's come from 'smoking hand-rolled cigarettes' and 'running from the law in the backfields'."[15]
Chart performance[edit]
"Castle on the Hill" debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart on 13 January, selling 193,000 combined units in its first week. Sheeran also debuted at number one with "Shape of You", making him the only artist in UK chart history to debut in the top two positions in the same week.[16] The song was certified silver in the first week due to selling 200,000 units. The song remained at number two in its second week, selling 100,000 units. The song spent a further three weeks at number two, and spent fourteen weeks in the top ten altogether. As of September 2017, the song has sold 1.7 million combined units in the UK, 479,000 of these are actual sales, with 119 million streams.[17] On the Scottish Singles Chart, "Castle on the Hill" debuted at number one, ahead of "Shape of You".[18]
The song debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, selling 171,000 downloads and gaining 13 million streams in its debut week in the US.[19] Sheeran also became the first artist to debut two songs in the top 10 in the same week in the history of the Hot 100, with "Shape of You" also debuting at number one.[19] As of September 2017, "Castle on the Hill" has sold 821,000 downloads in the US.[20]
In popular culture[edit]
The song was used in trailers and several TV spots for the 2017 animated film Ferdinand.
The song is also used in the first trailer and a few TV spots for the 2019 animated film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.[26]
Personnel are taken from the Europe digital single liner notes.[34]