Atlantic RecordsA year ago today, Ed Sheeran‘s third album Divide first debuted on the British chart. While Ed was already a Grammy-winning, platinum-selling singer, Divide pretty much made him the biggest pop star in the world. The U.K. publication Music Week runs down how it happened:
March 10, 2017: The first-week sales of Divide make Sheeran the fastest-selling male artist ever in the U.K. The album went on to sell a million copies in just 16 days.
March 13, 2017: In the U.K., 16 out of the Top 19 songs on the official British chart were tracks from Divide, prompting a rule change limiting the number of tracks allowed to chart simultaneously from one album.
March 14, 2017: Divide debuts at #1 in the U.S. with 451,000 units. It had already produced two top-10 hits: “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill.”
April 11, 2017: The Divide Tour is announced; five million fans apply for tickets.
June 25, 2017: Ed headlines the U.K.’s prestigious Glastonbury festival with 4.1 million people watching him on British TV.
July 10, 2017: The seven Irish dates on Ed’s 2018 stadium tour sell out in one day. It was the biggest number of tickets sold by one artist in Ireland in one day.
September 22, 2017: “Shape of You” becomes the most-streamed Spotify song of all time, with 1,318,420,396 streams to that date.
November 28, 2017: Grammy nominations are announced; Ed’s nominated for Best Pop Solo Album and Best Pop Solo Performance.
December 5, 2017: On Spotify, Divide is the most streamed album of the year and Ed is the most streamed artist.
December 22, 2017: Ed’s “Perfect” earns the much-coveted Christmas #1 in the U.K. Eminem’s “River,” which features Ed, came in second.
December 29, 2017: “Perfect” remains in the top U.K. chart position and Divide moves back into the top spot, giving Ed a year-end chart double.
January 4, 2018: Divide is named the best-selling 2017 album in the U.S.
January 28, 2018: At the Grammys, Divide wins Best Pop Solo Album and single “Shape of You” wins Best Pop Solo Performance.
February 21, 2018: Ed Sheeran wins the BRITs Global Success Award.
February 26, 2018: The IFPI, an organization that represents the recording industry worldwide, names Ed Sheeran the world’s best-selling recording artist of 2017.
March 1, 2018: The Entertainment Retailers’ Association names Divide as the best-selling entertainment title of the year in the U.K., including all video games and movies.
March 9, 2018: The one-year anniversary of Divide‘s first chart appearance.
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