Ed Sheeran

Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE, born February 17, 1991, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, is the most commercially successful solo music artist in British history and one of the best-selling musicians of the 21st century, a singer-songwriter and guitarist of extraordinary melodic instinct and lyrical emotionality whose albums have spent record-breaking amounts of time at the top of global charts. Growing up in the small Suffolk town of Framlingham, the son of a fine art lecturer and art curator, Sheeran was drawn to music from early childhood, learning guitar at age nine. He moved to London at sixteen without a manager or record deal, performing on the street and in small venues, sleeping on friends' sofas and recording early EPs independently. His self-released No. 5 Collaborations Project (2011) caught the attention of Elton John, who signed Sheeran to management through his company Rocket Music Group. His debut album Plus (2011) broke the record for simultaneous charting singles. Multiply (2014) debuted at number one in the UK and US. Divide (2017) broke the record for most simultaneous singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with its singles Shape of You — the most streamed song in Spotify history for several years — and Castle on the Hill charting together as the two best-selling songs in the world simultaneously. No. 6 Collaborations Project (2019) and Equals (2021) demonstrated his commercial consistency. He has sold over 150 million records worldwide, holds multiple Guinness World Records, and his annual headline tours consistently rank among the highest-grossing of all time, confirming his status as one of the great commercial forces in contemporary pop music.