Ed Sheeran - The A Team [Official Video]

The A Team" is the first song by English singer Ed Sheeran. Music was recorded as a digital download in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2011, serving as the best single from his first album, +

(2011). "The A Team" is a folk ballad with lyrics that speak of a prostitute addicted to crack cocaine, a Class A drug. It was written after Sheeran visited a homeless shelter and heard some of the stories of the lives people had been living. Making the single upbeat and using the line "Class A Team" was his way of masking the heavy subject matter. He wrote the single following a last-minute performance at an event for the homeless. The chorus of "The A Team" was also used by Sheeran in the track "Little Lady", which features Mikill Pane. "Little Lady" is available on the EP No. 5 Collaborations Project.

The music received acclaim from critics, who commended the lyrics and production and Sheeran's vocal performance. It became a top 10 hit in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It first at 3-rd on the UK Singles Chart, with sales of 57,607 copies. The single was serviced to U.S. radio formats in late 2012 and became a sleeper hit there, gradually rising up the Billboard Hot 100 to peak at number 16 – becoming Sheeran's first single on that chart. On 5 December the song received a Grammy Award nomination for Song of the Year, Sheeran's first Grammy nomination. At the 2012 Brit Awards it was nominated for Best British Single