The long-awaited sophomore album from British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran, “x,” arrives in stores, DSPs and all streaming partners today via Atlantic Records. The album – which Ed calls a collection of some of the best songs he’s ever written – features the Pharrell Williams-produced ‘song of summer’ “Sing,” the emotionally candid, “Don’t,” which was produced by Rick Rubin & Benny Blanco and “Thinking Out Loud,” which recalls Van Morrison and likewise has the sound of an instant classic.

In the days leading up to the worldwide release of “x,” Sheeran chose the unorthodox route of releasing a song-a-day via instant download after pre-ordering the album on iTunes, as well as giving songs from the album’s deluxe edition exclusively to MTV’s Amplify program, in conjunction with Twitter. Needless to say, Sheeran’s recognizable green & black album art flooded the iTunes “Overall Singles” chart by week’s end.