Do the Mathematics: From two pubs to 26 million sales - Ed Sheeran in numbers

As Ed Sheeran brings his Mathematics Tour to Cork, what better moment to run the numbers on his career

Ed Sheeran has sold more than 26m albums.  Picture: Isabel Infantes/PA Wire

2: The number of pubs Sheeran owns. Two years ago, Sheeran opened a gastropub in London, called Bertie’s Blossoms. Blossoms comes from Cherry Blossoms – a tribute to his wife Cherry Seaborn (and to the girlfriend of his business partner Stuart Camp, who is named Liberty “Bertie” Shaw, and is Sheeran’s stylist). The singer owns a second pub, on his sprawling Sheeranville estate in Suffolk. The Lancaster Lock is a converted barn – though he had to win a planning battle in order to retain the 15foot pub sign, as the structure is a listed building.

“I know it’s f**king weird to have a pub in your garden, but if my mates come round we can eat in the pub and then if they want to carry on I can just leave them there and go back to the main house,” Sheeran told GQ last year. “I like that separation. Especially as a father now. Also, look, it’s a lot nicer to eat without someone taking pictures of you.”

Three: The number of writers credited with penning Sheeran’s 2017 hit Shape Of You – the most streamed track in music history. Because it drew on elements of No Scrubs by TLC, that song’s writers received an “interpolation” credit, meaning that Shape Of You used a portion of a melody from it.

Three: the number of alternate titles Ed Sheeran tries for his 2017 song Galway Girl. Aware of the Steve Earle tune of the same name, he considered Wexford Girl, Clonakilty Girl and Cork Girl. None quite landed. “I actually tried to find another [title]. I did Wexford Girl and [Clonakilty] Girl and Cork Girl... none of them worked,” he told the BBC. “ But the whole point of folk songs is taking inspiration from the past and making something new – so people will just have to deal with it.” 

14: Sheeran’s age when he released his first EP – some two and a half years after seeing his idol, Damien Rice, singing in Whelan’s in Dublin.

16: Sheeran’s age when he was rejected by the judges of the 2008 ITV musical series, Britannia High. He aced the musical component of the audition. But he was shot down by Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips. "Not even an option,” she said of Sheeran’s attempt to groove to a Justin Timberlake song. “Eventually we are going to have to find some people who can dance because they can't all not dance.” 

Ed Sheeran on stage during one of his three Cork concerts at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 2018. Picture: Dan Linehan

18: The name of the One Direction song that Ed Sheeran wrote for the boyband. Sheeran is a prolific writer and has penned tracks for Taylor Swift, Little Mix, Justin Bieber and many others. Alas, his golden touch didn’t work for 1D, with 18 stalling outside the Top 30.

58,000: The opening week sales of The A-Team, his first single on a major label. It went to number three in both Ireland and the UK and hit 16 in the US.

350,000: The estimated number of people Sheeran will perform to across his stadium tour of Ireland. That trek began at Croke Park at the weekend, and now moves on to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Thomond Park in Limerick and Boucher Road Playing Fields in Belfast. By the time he’s done, more than one in twenty Irish people will have seen Sheeran’s new “in the round” show.

26 million: the number of albums Sheeran has sold worldwide. At one point in 2021, his most recent record, =, was outselling the rest of the UK Top 30 by a factor of 30 to one.

200 million: Sheeran’s estimated net worth in euro. According to Forbes magazine, Sheeran can personally make some €3 million per show. So when he’s grinning through his Pairc Ui Chaoimh performance it may have to do with more than simply the audience’s adoration. 

Still, he was far from the highest earner in music last year – that honour went to Bruce Springsteen, who trousered $590 million from the sale of his back catalogue.