"Perfect" No, no, no

I found a love for me Baby, I'm dancing in the dark

Darling, just dive right in and follow my
lead
Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet
Oh, I never knew you were the someone
waiting for me
'Cause we were just kids when we fell in
love
Not knowing what it was
I will not give you up this time
But darling, just kiss me slow
Your heart is all I own
And in your eyes you're holding mine
With you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass
Listening to our favourite song
I have faith in what I see
Now I know I have met an angel in person
And she looks perfect
I don't deserve this
You look perfect tonight

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark

With you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass
Listening to our favourite song
When you said you looked a mess
I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it,
Darling, you look perfect tonight

Well, I found a woman, stronger than

anyone I know
She shares my dreams, I hope that
someday I'll share her home
I found a love to carry more than just my
secrets
To carry love, to carry children of our own

We are still kids but we're so in love

Fighting against all odds
I know we'll be alright this time
Darling, just hold my hand
Be my girl, I'll be your man
I see my future in your eyes

Baby, I'm dancing in the dark

With you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass
Listening to our favourite song
When I saw you in that dress
Looking so beautiful
I don't deserve this
Darling, you look perfect tonight
 "Perfect"
Single by Ed Sheeran
from the album ÷
Released 24 November 2017
Genre Folk pop
Length 4:23
 Asylum
 Atlantic
Label
 Warner

Songwriter(s) Ed Sheeran
 Sheeran
Producer(s)  Will Hicks

Thinking Out Loud When my hair's all but gone and my

Ed Sheeran
[Verse 1]
When your legs don't work like they used
to before
And I can't sweep you off of your feet
Will your mouth still remember the taste
of my love?
Will your eyes still smile from your
cheeks?
And darling, I will be loving you till we're
seventy
And baby, my heart could still fall as hard
at twenty-three
And I'm thinking 'bout how
[Pre-Chorus 1]
People fall in love in mysterious ways
Maybe just the touch of a hand
Well me, I fall in love with you every
single day
I just wanna tell you I am
[Chorus]
So honey, now, take me into your loving
arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart, I'm
thinking out loud
And maybe we found love right where we
are
[Verse 2]
memory fades
And the crowds don't remember my name
When my hands don't play the strings the
same way
I know you will still love me the same
'Cause, honey, your soul could never grow
old, it's evergreen
And baby, your smile's forever in my mind
and memory
And I'm thinking 'bout how
[Pre-Chorus 2]
People fall in love in mysterious ways
And maybe it's all part of a plan
Well I'll just keep on making the same
mistakes
Hoping that you'll understand
[Chorus]
That, baby, now, take me into your loving
arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Place your head on my beating heart, I'm
thinking out loud
And maybe we found love right where we
are
[Chorus]
So baby, now, take me into your loving
arms
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars
Oh darling, place your head on my beating
heart, I'm thinking out loud
That maybe we found love right where we
are
Oh baby, we found love right where we
are
And we found love right where we are
Composition and
production
"Perfect" was the first track Sheeran wrote
for his third studio album ÷.[7] The song
was recorded in 2016 and first appeared
online in early March 2017. The song is a
romantic ballad written about his wife-to-
be Cherry Seaborn, whom he knew from
school and then reconnected with when
she was working in New York.[8][9] Sheeran
revealed that the inspiration for the lyrics
came after visiting James Blunt's house in
Ibiza, where the two singers had listened
to the rapper Future's music at six in the
morning.[10] He said: "Barefoot on the
grass, listening to our favorite song, which
happened to be Future's "March
Madness"... I booked the studio for the
day, and I had that and I was like, right, let
me just flesh that out. And the song
happened and was sort of finished that
day. I knew it was special."[10][11]
In an interview with Zane Lowe, Sheeran
said that he needed to write the best love
song of his career with "Perfect". He said:
"I need to do it 100% me, so everyone will
listen to that will be like, "Ah! He can
actually do it!" ... I wanted to beat
"Thinking Out Loud", 'cause I know that
song was going to define me."[10]
Sheeran produced the song himself with
help from Will Hicks. It was recorded with
strings orchestration from his brother
Matthew Sheeran.[10] This is the first time
the brothers had collaborated on a song as
it was the final wish of their grandmother
to see the brothers working together before
she died. The full string orchestration was
later used for the recording with Andrea
Bocelli.[12]
The song is written in the key of A♭ major
(G major in live performances) with a
tempo of 63.5 beats per minute in 12
8 time (if not using triplets) or
4
4 time (if using triplets). "Perfect" moves at
a chord progression of A♭5–Fm7–D♭sus2–
E♭. The vocals span from E♭3 to A♭4 in the
song.[13]
Commercial performance
In March 2017, Sheeran broke the record
set by Frankie Laine in 1953, occupying
all of the top five positions in the United
Kingdom, and placing nine songs in the
top ten of the UK Singles Chart.[14] Also,
every single one of the sixteen tracks from
his new album ÷ entered the top twenty.
"Perfect" debuted at number four, selling
62,599 copies.[14] After Sheeran's
performance of "Perfect" on The X Factor
on 26 November 2017, the song reached a
new peak in the UK, advancing to number
three and selling 32,507 units.[15] The
Beyoncé version, released on 1 December
2017, drove consumption of the track to
89,359 sales (including 45,460 from sales-
equivalent streams) as it became Sheeran's
second number-one song from ÷,
following "Shape of You" – and his fourth
number-one single in total.[16] With UK
sales of 1,048,313, "Perfect" became
Sheeran's tenth million-selling single.[16] It
was the Christmas number-one song for
2017,[17] and held the summit for six
consecutive weeks before being displaced
by Eminem's "River", which features
Sheeran as a guest artist.[18]
In the United States, ten songs from ÷
debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in
March 2017, including "Perfect" at
number thirty-seven.[19] In October, the
song ascended to number eighteen and
became the third song from ÷ to reach the
country's top twenty.[20] It also lifted 4–3
on Digital Songs (50,000 downloads sold),
34–30 on Radio Songs (45 million) and
46–35 on Streaming Songs (11.5 million).
[20]
On 30 October 2017, "Perfect" soared
to the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.[21]
The ballad gained in all metrics, holding at
number three on Digital Song Sales
(53,000, up 7 percent) and climbing 30-22
on Radio Songs (53 million, up 16
percent) and 35–27 on Streaming Songs
(13.1 million, up 14 percent).[21] On 20
November 2017, "Perfect" pushed to a
new Billboard Hot 100 high (8–7) and
reached the Radio Songs top ten (17–10;
73 million, up 16 percent).[22] Sheeran
scored his seventh Radio Songs top ten
and the third from his album ÷, following
"Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill".
[22]
The next week, "Perfect" hit top five on
the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the
second-highest-charting hit from his album
÷, following "Shape of You".[23] "Perfect"
became Sheeran's third top five hit overall;
his first, "Thinking Out Loud", rose to
number two in 2015.[23] "Perfect" remained
at number three on Digital Song Sales
(60,000, down 6 percent) and powered 10–
6 on Radio Songs (80 million, up 10
percent) and 38–15 on Streaming Songs
(18.9 million, up 61 percent).[23]
On 4 December 2017, "Perfect" pushed to
a new number three Billboard Hot 100
high, and became Sheeran's third number
one on Digital Song Sales (69,000, down 1
percent).[24] He previously topped the chart
for a week in 2015 with "Thinking Out
Loud" and for ten weeks earlier in 2017
with "Shape of You".[24] "Perfect" reached
number one on Digital Song Sales, aided
by the first few hours of tracking for its
duet version, released before the end of the
sales (and streaming) tracking week at 7
p.m. ET on 30 November.[24] For the full
week, the Beyoncé version accounted for
18 percent of the song's sales.[24] On 11
December 2017, after a full tracking week,
the single topped the Billboard Hot 100
chart, becoming Sheeran's second number-
one song in the United States and
Beyoncé's sixth as a solo act.[25] "Perfect"
remained at number-one on the Digital
Songs chart with sales of 181,000 copies
(up 202 percent).[25] The duet version
accounted for 63 percent of the song's total
sales for the week.[25] "Perfect" also rose
11–3 on the Streaming Songs chart with
34.9 million US streams, up 87 percent,
while on Radio Songs, it pushed 4–3 (102
million in audience, up 14 percent).[25] The
duet topped the Hot 100 for five weeks.
The original version of the song would
later take over at the top on the week
ending 20 January 2018. After six total
weeks at number one, the song was
dethroned by "Havana" by Camila Cabello
featuring Young Thug.[26] "Perfect" was
the seventh best-selling song of 2017 in
the US, with 1,340,000 copies sold that
year.[27] It was the best-selling song of
2018, with 1,300,000 copies sold.[28]
The original version peaked at number one
in Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg,
Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines,
Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and
Switzerland. After the Beyoncé duet
release, "Perfect" also reached number one
in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland,
Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the United
Kingdom, and the United States.[29][30] The
song is Sheeran's fourth to reach number
one in Australia,[31] and held the country's
top spot for eight consecutive weeks
before "God's Plan" by Drake displaced it.
[32]
It went to number one as well in
Canada, becoming Sheeran's second
number one there and Beyoncé's first.[33][34]
As of 3 January 2019, the song has sold
207,000 digital copies in Canada.[35]