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Ed Sheeran Lends Support To 'Love Music Hate Racism'

Ed Sheeran Lends Support To 'Love Music Hate Racism'

All around nice guy.

Josh Teal

Josh Teal

Spotify-smasher, chart-hogging, inspiration to gingers globally Ed Sheeran has come out and handed his support to the Love Music Hate Racism campaign.

With the use of just a simple picture, the 'Shape of You' singer proclaimed his support to the 15-year-long cause which says music"...is living testimony to the fact that cultures can and do mix."

On its website it writes that music "...unites us and gives us strength, and offers a vibrant celebration of our multicultural and multiracial society. Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us. Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) was set up in 2002 in response to rising levels of racism and electoral successes for the British National Party.

Image: Love Music Hate Racism/Facebook

"We use the energy of our music scene to celebrate diversity and involve people in anti-racist activity, in the tradition of the Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement of the late 1970s. There have been now been many hundreds of LMHR events, from large outdoor festivals to local gigs and club nights.

"Top artists who have performed at our events include Ms Dynamite, Kasabian, Hard -Fi, Babyshambles, Akala, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Estelle, The View, Lethal Bizzle, Kano, Roll Deep and Basement Jaxx. Just as important are the up-and-coming bands, DJs, MCs and their fans who have performed at or organised their own local LMHR nights.

Credit: Ed Sheeran/Asylum/Atlantic

"The LMHR campaign has a renewed importance with the increase in Islamophobia, anti-migrant racism and hostility towards refugees in Britain and across Europe. We think it is time to reignite our national movement against racism through music. It is vital that everyone gets involved however they can."

÷, Ed's third album, recently broke seven records during its first week in the charts.

Remaining at the top of the charts is 'Shape of You', which has sold over a million copies in the UK since it was first released.

The Official Chart Company changed the way it calculates the Top 40 earlier this year to reflect the rise in streaming. Alongside physical copies and downloads, 150 streamings count as a sale of a song.

via GIPHY

This means Ed's domination of the chart should come as no surprise, as ÷ broke first-day stream records on Spotify after 56,727,861 streams on the day of its release (3rd March) alone.

As if that was not enough for the British singer-songwriting lad, Ed went on to smash one-day stream records as well, with 'Shape of You' getting more than 10 million streams last Friday.

YouTube has also announced that the singer's album has already managed more than one billion views on the site.

And Ed told OfficialCharts.com: "Wow! What a phenomenal week. To every person who's bought the album - thank you. I'm buzzing!"

Featured Image Credit: Love Music Hate Racism/Facebook

Topics: Ed Sheeran