Castle on the Hill (song)



"Castle on the Hill" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released as a digital download on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album ÷ (2017), along with "Shape of You". "Castle on the Hill" was written and produced by Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco.

Background
The theme of the single surrounds Sheeran's home town of Framlingham, and he reminisces tales of 'smoking hand-rolled cigarettes' and getting 'drunk [with] friends' at this place, living life as a teenager. The castle mentioned in the song is Framlingham Castle, and in January 2017, Sheeran was invited to perform at the Castle.

Critical reception
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." 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. " 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 hook-free “Tiny Dancer,” because Ed Sheeran saw Almost Famous once." 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 handrolled cigarettes’ and ‘running from the law in the backfields’."

Chart performance
"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. "Castle on the Hill" debuted at number one on the Scottish Singles Chart behind "Shape of You". 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. As of April 2017, the song has sold 1.1 million combined units in the UK, 397,000 of these are digital downloads.

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. 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. As of 6 April 2017, "Castle on the Hill" has sold 335,000 downloads in the US and boasted 119 million US streams.

Lyric video
"Castle on the Hill" was accompanied by a lyric video on 5 January 2017 with "Shape of You" upon its release. As of 23 July 2017, the lyric video on YouTube has amassed over 270 million views.

Music video
The official music video for the song was released on 23 January 2017. It was directed by George Belfield and produced by Tom Gardner, and it features a group of adolescents living their youth with parallels being made to Sheeran's own youth. The video was filmed throughout Suffolk with locations including Framlingham, Boyton marshes, Mildenhall Stadium and Felixstowe. The final shot shows Framlingham Castle. Ed Sheeran stated on The Graham Norton Show that the young man playing him in the video went to the same school as Sheeran, Thomas Mills High School. As of 23 July 2017, the music video on YouTube has amassed over 200 million views.



Formats and track listings

 * Digital download
 * 1) "Castle on the Hill" – 4:21


 * Digital download – Acoustic
 * 1) "Castle on the Hill" (Acoustic) – 3:46


 * Digital download – Live at the BRITs
 * 1) "Castle on the Hill" (Live at the BRITs) – 1:47


 * German CD single
 * 1) "Castle on the Hill" – 4:21
 * 2) "Castle on the Hill" (Acoustic) – 3:46


 * Digital download – Seeb remix
 * 1) "Castle on the Hill" (Seeb remix) – 3:51


 * Digital download – Throttle remix
 * 1) "Castle on the Hill" (Throttle remix) – 3:40