Ed Sheeran's X becomes one of the biggest selling albums of the decade

Ed Sheeran has added a new honour to his list of many achievements - his award-winning Number 1 album X has joined a select band of albums to hit the 2 million sales mark.

X passed the 2 million mark (2.01 million) earlier this week, just 9 months after its release last June, based on data compiled by the Official Charts Company.

The achievement makes X only the fifth album to pass 2m mark since the start of this decade, following in the footsteps of albums by Adele, Emeli Sande, Take That and Michael Bublé.

"So chuffed to hear X has just hit the 2 million mark in the UK!" Sheeran told OfficialCharts.com. "Looking forward to getting back there for my Wembley shows in July and celebrating with you all."

The album also managed the feat in super-quick time too, becoming the sixth fastest 2m-seller of the Millennium so far. While 39 albums have now hit the landmark since 2000, only eight have done so within a 12 month period – with X achieving the milestone in just 38 weeks. The Official Top 10 fastest 2m-sellers of the Millennium are:

Table shows the albums which have reached 2m sales fastest from week 1 2010 to week 11 2015.©2015 Official Charts Company . All rights reserved.

X is now a genuine landmark album. Passing the million mark after just 23 weeks on sale, it has had three different spells at Number 1 in the Official Albums Chart, spanning 12 weeks. Although it was released last summer, X’s biggest sales week came in December, when it sold 214,000 copies in just seven days.

The album has also spawned two Official Singles Chart Number 1s with Sing and Thinking Out Loud, as well as a further two Top 40 hits with Don't and Bloodstream. Click here to view Sheeran’s full Official Chart History.

The success of X also means Sheeran has two albums among the ten biggest selling albums of the 2010s so far – with X at Number 5 and + at Number 6. The only other artists to achieve this feat are Adele (with 21 at 1 and 19 at 10) and Michael Bublé (with Christmas at 3 and Crazy Love at 8). The Top 5 biggest selling albums of the decade are:

©2015 Official Charts Company . All rights reserved.

Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot said: “It is unlikely that anyone was in any doubt before, but this firmly establishes just what a significant, era-defining album X has become.

"The 2 million landmark is quite an achievement and puts Ed up there with the biggest acts of the age. Many many congratulations, Ed!”

Ed Sheeran – The road to 2 million

• Total sales: 2.01 million
• Download sales: 574,000
• CD sales: 1,429,000 
• Vinyl sales: 7,000 
• Biggest sales week: December 2014, 214,000 sales 
• Average weekly sales: 52,880 per week 
• Average daily sales: 7,555 per day 
• Weeks at Number 1: 12
• Spells at Number 1: 3
• Weeks in Top 10: 38 (every week since release)
• Where loves X most: East England, Northern Ireland, Lancashire
• Where loves X least: N Scotland, Central Scotland, London
• Biggest selling track: Thinking Out Loud, 886,000 sales
• Most streamed track: Thinking Out Loud, 40 million
• Number of 2m selling albums since 2010: 5
• Number of 2m selling albums since 2000: 39