Nice guys finish last， so the saying goes. There is one man， though， whose recent chart success seems to challenge that maxim. Official figures show that Ed Sheeran， who has persisted with his scruffy image and simple songwriting， was the biggest-selling artist of 2014 with his second album， X. He is Britains biggest export since Downton Abbey.

Sheeran， already the most searchedfor male celebrity on Google， may well see his career scale further heights in 2015， with two Grammy nominations and three nights at Wembley Stadium in July—two of which are sold out. Performing with only a backing band， loop pedal and an acoustic guitar， he is about to pull off the biggest busk of all time.

So how did Sheeran， a relatively normal bloke， making relatively normal music， manage to become Britains top-selling artist？

Niceness alone， of course， doesnt account for his blockbuster success with the album X；it sold 1.7m copies in 2014 in Britain， one of only two releases to beat the 1m mark， and has had over 430m streams worldwide since its release in June—more than any other artist globally. Perhaps its more thanks to Sheerans skills in balancing his guise as the bastion of shabby student authenticity with the role of mercurial businessman—not to mention a fierce sense of underdog ambition.

A bit of luck helps， too. The initial spark for Sheerans stratospheric success can be traced back to two chance events. The first occurred during an impromptu LA trip in 2010， which led to a friendship with the actor and musician Jamie Foxx. Foxx saw Sheeran play and ended up providing him with exposure in the U.S. on his radio show， The Foxxhole. That same year， Sheerans music was noticed by the web mogul Jamal Edwards， whose online channel SB.TV has shone a light on the wealth of talent emerging from the UK grime scene. The SB.TV connections led to Sheeran collaborating with established grime artists including Wiley， JME and Sway， while he simultaneously worked the grind of indie venues in London， performing 300 shows in 2010 alone.

With opportunities opening in both the U.S. and UK， Sheeran was able to establish fans on both sides of the Atlantic—an accomplishment many musicians are unable to crack throughout the duration of their career.

George Ergatoudis， head of music for Radio 1 and 1Xtra， believes Sheerans ability to straddle a multitude of modern genres makes him stand out. “He switches between folk music and black music in a unique way…no one else channels Eminem and Damien Rice simultaneously like he can，” he says.

Such careful cultural curation appeals to a range of ages， genres and genders， and allows Sheeran to be playlisted on Radio 1， Radio 2 and BBC 1Xtra. The latter channel named him the most powerful artist on its annual Power List—a choice that triggered controversy， given 1Xtras description as the “black music network.”

As well as catering to the indie crowd and pop audiences—the singer has toured with Taylor Swift—Sheerans honeyed vocals and dalliance with rap styles have also helped increase his trajectory in the U.S.， where hip hop and R&B; is a far more lucrative business than in Britain. This year he collaborated with rapper The Game and appeared on the cover of the influential rap magazine Vibe.

Although much rap music can be about bragging， intrinsic to Sheerans aesthetic is his ability to appear everyday. Material on his debut album， +， had an obsession with promoting his allegiance to reality， and his Twitter feed is a constant source of disarming truths， such as“doing the Victoria secrets fashion show tonight and Im eating a Greggs sausage roll in the dressing room.”

Eric Clarke， professor of music at Oxford University， thinks this is a potent attribute for an artist in 2014. “His boy-next-door [image]—not very good looks but a perfectly nice guy—and the song Thinking Out Loud， with its reflections on getting older and fidelity and love in a fairly conventional context， is a slight counter-blast to fast-living celebrity culture.”

A far more straight forward explanation for Sheerans global impact lies within his songs. Fiona Bevan， the singer-songwriter who co-wrote One Directions Little Things with Sheeran， pins the copyable nature of his songs on the youth markets current captivation with him.

She says： “Because of the fact that Ed plays solo guitar， and you can hear the acoustic guitar part on the records， the songs are accessible to people to learn to play at home. All his songs are so well written that you can strip away all the production and the songs still stand in their own right. I think the YouTube generation gravitates towards this clear， seemingly simple songwriting when they want to cover their favourite songs， and share them with their networks—so theres this incredible surge in awareness from fans on YouTube making their own versions and spreading them far and wide.”

To others， Sheerans ascent is baffling， perhaps even offensive to those who hoped that the voice of a new generation might be more revolutionary. In 2012， the influential journalist Caitlin Moran tweeted： “If my kids ever tell me they like Ed Sheeran， Ill put them in a sack and throw them in a canal.”Sheerans response was to sidestep a potential social media spat by sending her “lots of hugs” via Twitter， prompting regret and a grovelling offer of drinks on the part of Moran， which just goes to show that you should never underestimate the potency of being nice.

常言道：人善被人欺。然而，有一个人最近在榜单上取得的成绩似乎要打破这个说法。官方数据显示，艾德·希兰于2014发行的第二张专辑《X》是年度唱片销量之最，他虽然总是以一副不修边幅的形象示人，但其歌曲创作风格则以简单为主。这位英国歌手在国际上的名气比得上盛极一时的英剧《唐顿庄园》。

作为谷歌搜索次数最多的男性名人，两项格莱美奖项提名得主，希兰有望在2015年把职业生涯推上一个新的高度。他将在今年7月份在温布利体育馆开三场演唱会——其中两场门票已经售罄。演唱会只用到一个配乐乐队，一个脚踏循环录音器，和一个原声吉他，他将要举行一场最大型的“街头表演秀”。

希兰这个相对普通的家伙，做着相对普通的音乐，是怎样成为英国销量最高的歌手的呢？

当然，仅仅是友善的个性并不足以令他的唱片《X》轰动一时；在2014年，这张专辑在英国卖出了170万张——去年只有两张唱片的销量超过了一百万，去年六月发布以来，全球播放次数已超过了4300万次——这比全世界任何一个歌手都要多。或许这得益于他平衡伪装和真实的能力，一副典型的穷学生模样，但事实上他是个精打细算的商人——更不用提他那份向上爬的强烈野心。

这其中还有运气的帮忙。希兰取得巨大成功的起因可追溯到曾经的两次机遇。第一次是2010年在洛杉矶的一次即兴表演，这次表演让他与演员兼音乐人杰米·福克斯成为了朋友。福克斯看过希兰表演后决定让他上自己的电台节目《The Foxxhole》。同年，网络大亨贾马尔·爱德华兹开始留意希兰的音乐，贾马尔的在线频道SB.TV已经挖掘了许多草根出身的天才。与SB.TV的合作让希兰可以与一些已经成名的草根歌手合作，如：怀利、JME和Sway，同时，他还忙于在伦敦独立音乐界走场表演，光2010年就有300场演出。

希兰在英美两国都获得发展机会，能在大西洋两岸建立人气——这是很多音乐人在其整个职业生涯都做不到的。

电台Radio1和1Xtra的音乐总监乔治·埃格托迪斯相信希兰有能力融合多种现代音乐元素，使其脱颖而出。“他以一种独特的方式在民谣和黑人音乐之间变换……没有其他人可以像他那样能同时演绎出艾米纳姆和戴米恩·莱斯的味道来。”他说道。

如此用心的流派处理吸引了不同年龄、类型、性别的人，也让希兰的歌曲得以在Radio1、Radio2和BBC电台1Xtra中播放。后者在它的年度实力榜单中把他评为最有实力的艺人——这让电台受到了争议，因为这个电台一向被称为“黑人音乐网络”。

他不仅吸引了独立群体，还要得到流行乐迷的青睐——与泰勒·斯威夫特一同巡演。希兰甜美的嗓音融合说唱风格也对他在美国的发展有所帮助，比起英国，嘻哈和R&B;在美国更有市场。今年，他与说唱歌手The Game合作，并登上了很有影响力的说唱杂志《Vibe》的封面。

虽然很多说唱音乐都是在自吹自擂，但希兰能够让自己像个邻家男孩那么普通。从他的第一张专辑《+》里的歌曲就能看出来他更忠于现实，他的推特也常常发一些既真实又让人有亲切感的微博，如“我今晚要在维多利亚的秘密时装秀上表演，我正在化妆间吃格雷格的香肠卷”。

牛津大学的音乐教授埃里克·克拉克认为在2014年，这对艺人来说是一个很有利的特点。“他邻家男孩（的形象）——没有很好的外形但很友善——他的歌曲《大声说出我的想法》是对成长、忠诚和爱进行传统的思考，这有点跟快节奏的名人生活背道而驰。”

对希兰引起全球关注这个现象更直接的解释可以在他的歌曲中找到。创作歌手菲奥纳·贝文，曾与希兰共同创作One Direction的《Little Things》，认为现在的年轻人为他着迷是因为他的歌曲的可复制性。

她说：“因为艾德的歌曲多是吉他独奏，所以你可以在他的唱片中听到原声吉他的部分，人们可以在家学习、弹唱这些歌。他所有的歌曲都写得很好，就算去掉所有的后期制作，这些歌仍然很好听。看YouTube长大的一代人在讨论他们喜欢的歌曲或在自己的社交网络上分享歌曲的时候，我想他们会被这种简单明了的曲风所吸引，YouTube上的粉丝们一时间灵感大发，把自己弹唱的版本广泛传播。”

在其他人看来，希兰的高人气让人难以理解，而那些希望新一代歌手的声音更有突破性的人甚至对此感到生气。2012年，知名记者凯特琳·莫兰在推特上寫道：“要是我的孩子告诉我他们喜欢艾德·希兰，我会把他们装进麻包袋里，然后扔到河里。”而希兰只是通过推特给她回复了“很多拥抱”的表情，从而避免了一次潜在的社交媒体上的骂战，此举让莫兰后悔不已，并因此请希兰喝酒道歉。这件事说明了千万不要小看与人为善的潜在力量。