THE modern day pop charts can be somewhat puzzling for the the older music fan like me.

It's not to do with the quality or variety of the music but the fact that the chart can be dominated by a single artist like Ed Sheeran to such an extent as to render it fairly ridiculous.

Back in the days of vinyl singles it was a big deal for an artist to have more than one record in the chart at the same time.

Nowadays, downloads and streaming have changed all that and, in my humble opinion, ruined the old fashioned fun we used to have with the pop charts.

A week or so after it's release, there are a staggering nine tracks from Sheeran's Divide album in the top ten singles chart, including the number one, Shape of You.

It's fair to say then that Sheeran's third album, which is also top of the albums chart, has been well received by the public and will make lots of money.

By the way, his previous two albums, X and +, currently occupy positions 4 and 6 respectively, further emphasising Ed's chart dominance.

The success of Divide demonstrates the almost fiendish skill that Sheeran possesses for producing albums with mass appeal.

Divide is a guided missile of an album that couldn't fail to hit that number one spot.

With unerring accuracy, Sheeran takes aim at the various demographics, picking them off track by track.

The albums opener, Eraser, reestablishes Ed's endearing "ordinary bloke" credentials with a rap that unconvincingly claims that he remains unchanged by fame and fortune.

Over the Castle on the Hill, with it's memory-lane clichés, is targeted at the Radio 2 audience as sycophantically as Shape of You is aimed at the younger Radio 1 types.

The all-inclusive pick'n'mix approach continues with Perfect, a custom-made first dance for weddings, whilst Galway Girl is a jolly Irish jig of a song and the humorous New Man is a potential festival pleaser.

Need I go on? Get the idea? This is a skilfully constructed album of pleasant enough pop songs with generic themes that will appeal to all ages.

I must admit that this apparently calculated approach to making an album strikes me as slightly depressing but as an example of how to achieve chart success in the age of streaming I suppose it has to be admired.

The undoubtedly talented Sheeran is now 26 years old with three massive hit albums behind him. Where does he go from here?

Will he continue with the same populist approach or does he have a 'Sergeant Pepper' type album in him?

Only time will tell whether Ed can make the transition that will place him alongside our pop greats on an artistic level as well as on the basis of chart success.

I certainly hope he can because, in common with most people, I rather like him.

GKH