"Well deserved" — Internet reacts to Ed Sheeran on the cover of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025 issue

The TIME Magazine’s 2025 list of the 100 Most Influential People has been released and Ed Sheeran made it to the cover of the issue. The list further included stars like Kristen Wiig, Rashida Jones, Diego Luna, Demi Moore, Adam Scott, Kristen Bell, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Danielle Deadwyler, and Scarlett Johansson, to name a few.

The Perfect singer became one of the few covers that came with an accompanying interview. According to The Independent, Hollywood actor Chris Hemsworth also paid tribute to the 34-year-old singer. Chris reportedly wrote:

"Ed Sheeran has an almost supernatural ability to connect. His songs, his voice, his words – they belong to all of us."

Meanwhile, social media platforms, including X, have been flooded with responses from netizens who shared their take on the news about Sheeran's cover. Many seemed quite excited about the latest news. A user (@hotcyphers) wrote on X:

"Well deserved."

A netizen tweeted:

"Can we all agree Ed Sheeran’s influence goes beyond charts? this man writes songs that feel like home..."

"Deserves to be!!" exclaimed a fan.

"He's finally getting some of the flowers he deserved👏," wrote another one.

While many complimented his cover, some had a different point of view. A user commented:

"I love my boy, what exactly has he been influencing this year?💀"

"Influential to who?" questioned a netizen.

"This is not the year he’s been influencing," added a tweet.

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Ed Sheeran told TIME that he is currently more concerned about whether he is enjoying his work

As aforementioned, singer Ed Sheeran's TIME cover was one of the few ones that came with an interview. In the interview, Sheeran revealed that at his current time in his career, he was less concerned about whether his projects were doing commercially well. He, infact, was more about whether he was enjoying them.

In the interview, Ed said:

"I've kind of got to a point of my career where I'm just sort of like, 'Am I enjoying it?' 'Is it commercially doing well?'"

The Thinking Out Loud singer further opened up about his career and said:

"I think now I've explored everything…So it is kind of stripping it back a little bit and finding the joy in creating s***."

In separate news, Ed Sheeran has announced his upcoming album titled Play while he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. According to a report by NME dated March 2025, songs like Sapphire and Azizam would make it to the upcoming album, which is set to be released in June this year.

According to The Independent, the upcoming album was recorded in Goa, India. Opening about his decision to record in India, Ed Sheeran said:

"Whereas in India, I found that it was just their own wave, and it just is rather than trying to fit in things."

Fans are now eagerly waiting for the much-anticipated studio album, which will be Sheeran's eighth album and will be released through Gingerbread Man Records.