In the United Kingdom and Australia, the song reached number one and number two respectively. When released as the debut single from ‘Back to Bedlam’ in Canada and the United States, it reached number one on both charts. In 2006, the song won an Ivor Novello Award for the widespread airplay it had received. The song has reportedly sold 625,000 copies in the United Kingdom, and by October 2012 over three million in the United States. It remains Blunt's biggest hit single in the United States to date, and his only one to reach the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2012, a new version of the single was issued in Japan.
Newspapers have claimed that ‘You're Beautiful’ is about a former girlfriend of Blunt, Dixie Chassay, who was the casting director for the Harry Potter films, although Blunt refuses to confirm or deny this. On 8 March 2006 on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show, Blunt said of the song, "It was about seeing my ex-girlfriend on the Underground in London with her new man, who I didn't know existed. She and I caught eyes and lived a lifetime in that moment but didn't do anything about it and haven't seen each other since."
Several versions of the song exist. One lyrical version has an explicit word in it (‘She could see from my face that I was f…ing high’) which was released on ‘Back to Bedlam’ and most of the ‘You're Beautiful’ singles. The radio edit of the song replaces the explicit lyric, changing it to ‘She could see from my face that I was 'flying' high’. Acoustic, live and DVD versions have also been released. However, because of the word in question, the album was given a ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker
In the beginning of the song, Blunt sings the first line twice ("My life is brilliant"). The mistimed delivery was left in the final recording but omitted in radio versions. I also repeat the line in my rendition of the song, as Blunt did, but leave out the explicit word that he included.
There are two things that everyone should reaffirm to themselves each morning when they look in the mirror after getting out of bed. (1) "Today is a good day" and (2) " You're beautiful".
Love and peace Bill xxx