× (Multiply)

× (Multiply) is the second studio album by Ed Sheeran, released in June 2014 on Asylum/Atlantic Records and produced by Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams, Benny Blanco, and Jake Gosling. It is the album that expanded Sheeran's commercial reach to the American mainstream and demonstrated that the intimate acoustic approach of the debut could scale to arena production without losing its emotional core. Sheeran wrote or co-wrote all material; 'Sing' (produced by Pharrell), 'Don't,' 'Thinking Out Loud,' and 'Bloodstream' were the principal singles. 'Thinking Out Loud' reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent over 70 weeks on the chart, winning the Grammy for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance; 'Sing' gave Sheeran his first UK number-one single. × debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 simultaneously, has been certified eight-times platinum in the United States, and was the best-selling album in the world in 2014. The album confirmed Sheeran as one of the most commercially viable singer-songwriters in the world and demonstrated his ability to work with diverse producers, from Pharrell's funk to Rubin's stripped rock aesthetic, without losing his compositional identity.