109 Fun Facts About Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran was born in 1991 in which West Yorkshire town?

Halifax-born Sheeran moved to Suffolk at four, yet a 2018 npower poll still ranked him the fourth-greatest Yorkshireman ever, behind Michael Palin, Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart.

Which Suffolk market town, where his family moved when he was four, does Sheeran call home?

Framlingham's Thomas Mills High School, where he began writing songs, later received a six-figure gift from him for music, art and IT equipment.

Sheeran says seeing which guitarist at the Queen's 2002 Golden Jubilee concert made him take up guitar?

Eric Clapton played 'Layla' there, and years later the two became friends who each guested on the other's album under the alias Angelo Mysterioso.

Sheeran was a guitar tech for which duo, known for 'JCB Song', before opening for them?

Nizlopi's 'JCB Song' stalled at number 160 in June 2005, but an animated video spread online and its December re-release went to number one.

Sheeran credits rapping along to which album with helping him overcome a childhood stutter?

Years after learning The Marshall Mathers LP by heart, Sheeran featured on the same rapper's 2017 album, Revival.

Which singer-songwriter has been Sheeran's friend since they both played a tiny Cambridge basement gig when Ed was about 15?

Passenger, the 'Let Her Go' singer, said Sheeran's invitation to open his tours helped spark a huge spike in his career.

Which actor invited Sheeran to stay at his LA home and use his recording studio in 2010?

Jamie Foxx made the offer after Sheeran, playing open-mic nights around LA, landed a slot on Foxx's show.

Sheeran's 2011 breakthrough EP, No.5 Collaborations Project, featured artists from which UK scene?

Grime MCs such as Wiley, JME and Devlin guested, and the self-funded EP reached number two on iTunes without a label or promotion.

Which song was Sheeran's debut single and first hit?

The A Team, a ballad about a homeless woman, went on to beat Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' to the 2012 Ivor Novello award for best song.

Which symbol titles Sheeran's 2011 album featuring 'Lego House' and 'Drunk'?

+ (Plus) topped the UK chart on 102,000 first-week sales, and Sheeran thanked fans by giving away a free EP.

Which Harry Potter actor stars in the "Lego House" video as a play on his resemblance to Sheeran?

Rupert Grint plays a lookalike who turns out to be a stalker, and he reprised the role in the 2025 video for 'A Little More'.

Which Pink Floyd song did Sheeran cover at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics?

Wish You Were Here had Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason playing behind him, while a tightrope walker crossed high above the stadium.

Which boy band had a UK number one with 'Little Things', a song Sheeran co-wrote?

One Direction had already recorded his 'Moments', and Liam Payne said Sheeran gave them almost a whole album of songs to choose from.

Sheeran co-wrote and sang on which single from Taylor Swift's album Red?

Everything Has Changed paired them on Red, and Swift then made Sheeran the opening act on every North American date of her 2013 Red Tour.

Which star performed Sheeran's Song of the Year nominee with him at the 2013 Grammys?

Elton John later co-wrote and sang the 2021 charity single 'Merry Christmas' with him, one of three holiday songs the pair wrote together.

Sheeran's 2013 song "I See Fire" plays over the end credits of which film?

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug got a song Sheeran produced himself, playing every instrument except the cello and learning violin in a day.

Which song gave Sheeran his first UK number one in 2014?

Sing came with a video in which a lookalike puppet of Sheeran stood in for him, getting drunk and singing karaoke on a wild night out.

Which song on × did Sheeran write about his grandfather, who had Alzheimer's disease?

Afire Love was begun two weeks before his grandfather died; Sheeran said he was thinking 'What if?' and then it happened.

Which song kept "Thinking Out Loud" at number two on the US Hot 100 for eight weeks?

Uptown Funk, by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, held on to the top spot, yet 'Thinking Out Loud' still won Song of the Year at the 2016 Grammys.

Sheeran wrote 'Thinking Out Loud' with which Wales-based songwriter?

Amy Wadge says she was strumming a guitar at his house while he showered, and he came running downstairs saying they had to do something with it.

What does Sheeran spend the 'Thinking Out Loud' music video doing?

Performing a ballroom dance with a So You Think You Can Dance contestant took secret training, five hours a day, while she was on tour with him.

A 2023 New York jury cleared Sheeran of copying which Marvin Gaye song in "Thinking Out Loud"?

Let's Get It On's part-owners ran a separate suit that ended only when the US Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal in June 2025.

Sheeran wrote which Justin Bieber hit, having originally planned to put it on his own third album?

Love Yourself 'just wouldn't have made' ÷, Sheeran said, but Bieber turned it into Billboard's number one song of 2016.

Sheeran said "Shape of You" was written with which singer in mind before he kept it for himself?

Rihanna never received it: Sheeran decided halfway through writing that the lyrics suited him better, so the song was never sent to her.

The writers of which TLC song were added to the songwriting credits of 'Shape of You'?

No Scrubs writers Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle and Kevin Briggs joined the credits in 2017; Burruss said talks had begun before the song came out.

Which song overtook 'Shape of You' as Spotify's most-streamed song ever?

Blinding Lights by The Weeknd was shut out of the 2021 Grammy nominations, and he tweeted that 'the Grammys remain corrupt'.

Which song, released the same day as 'Shape of You', debuted at UK number two?

Castle on the Hill's video was shot in his hometown with a cast of pupils from the high school he attended.

÷ sold 672,000 copies in its first UK week, then the third-biggest opening behind Adele's 25 and which album?

Be Here Now by Oasis still sold more in its 1997 first week, while ÷'s streams sent all 16 of its tracks into the UK singles top 20.

Whose record of nine top-10 UK singles from one album did Sheeran break with ÷ in 2017?

Calvin Harris set the mark with 18 Months; after ÷ swamped the chart, the rules changed so only an artist's three most popular tracks could chart.

Which singer joined Sheeran on 'Perfect Duet', the 2017 remake of his ballad 'Perfect'?

Beyoncé's duet drove 'Perfect' to number one in the US and UK, and the song went on to become the UK's 2017 Christmas number one.

'Perfect Symphony' paired Sheeran with which tenor?

Andrea Bocelli sang over an orchestral arrangement by Sheeran's brother, and Sheeran sang some of his own lines in Italian.

Sheeran wrote 'Perfect' after a night at which singer's Ibiza house listening to Future's 'March Madness'?

James Blunt then opened Sheeran's 2017 North American tour, and the pair co-wrote songs for Blunt's album The Afterlove.

Which former school classmate, later his wife, inspired Sheeran to write 'Perfect'?

Cherry Seaborn went to Thomas Mills High School with him, yet the pair only started dating in 2015.

Which Eminem track from the album Revival features Sheeran?

River went to number one in the UK in January 2018, knocking Sheeran's own 'Perfect' off the top after six weeks.

Sheeran's 2017 Game of Thrones cameo was arranged as a surprise for which cast member, a big fan?

Maisie Williams's Arya shared the scene, and after the backlash Sheeran said he became more careful about accepting cameos.

In a 2019 Danny Boyle film, Sheeran plays himself in a world where only one man remembers which band?

The Beatles' songs make the hero famous in Yesterday, and Sheeran took his role only after Chris Martin had turned it down.

Sheeran cameos as a wedding singer who gets arrested at the end of which 2021 Netflix action comedy?

Red Notice ends with him yelling 'I'm Ed Sheeran!' as he is hauled away; he said he landed the part through his friendship with the film's director.

After covering 'Make It Rain' for Sons of Anarchy, Sheeran was cast in which FX medieval drama?

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter cast him after hearing the cover.

Sheeran has a tattoo of, and wrote a TV ad for, which condiment?

Heinz Tomato Ketchup made the advert after he messaged the brand with an idea, and it launched a special 'Edchup' bottle alongside it.

Which Irish actress stars alongside Sheeran in the 'Galway Girl' music video?

Saoirse Ronan's handwriting became his tattoo during filming, and she spelled it 'Galway Grill'.

Which record label did Sheeran found in 2015, signing Jamie Lawson as its first act?

Gingerbread Man Records launched with Jamie Lawson, who had toured with Sheeran that year, and his album on the label went to number one in the UK.

What is the name of Sheeran's bar and restaurant in Notting Hill?

Bertie Blossoms, on Portobello Road, served free hot breakfasts in October 2020 to children normally entitled to free school meals.

Which of Sheeran's own singles knocked "Bad Habits" off the top of the UK chart in September 2021?

Shivers was originally meant to be the first single, but Sheeran held it back because he felt 'Bad Habits' belonged to the summer.

Sheeran's teaser for his 2021 charity duet 'Merry Christmas' recreated a scene from which romantic comedy?

Love Actually's doorstep cue-card scene was restaged, with Sheeran's cards explaining the duet began with a phone call the Christmas before.

Which 2023 album did Sheeran say would get no singles or music videos?

Autumn Variations was an independent release, which Sheeran said took away the pressure of needing a hit single.

"Azizam", the lead single from Play (2025), takes its title from which language?

Persian gave the title, a term of endearment meaning 'my dear', after producer Ilya Salmanzadeh urged Sheeran to draw on the producer's own Persian heritage.

Which Indian singer collaborated with Sheeran on the 2025 single "Sapphire"?

Arijit Singh sings and plays sitar on it, and Sheeran shot the video across India during his tour there earlier that year.

Sheeran said in 2025 that Play would be followed by Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind and which album?

Stop is meant to feel like a final album, yet Sheeran says Eject, a record in his will whose tracks his wife will pick, would follow it.

Where did Ed Sheeran's ÷ Tour end in August 2019, with four homecoming shows?

Ipswich's Chantry Park hosted those nights, and BBC Introducing in Suffolk, which had backed him as a teenager, picked local acts to open three of them.

Why did Sheeran cancel Asian ÷ Tour dates in 2017?

He broke bones in his arms in a bike accident that October; Manila, Osaka and Tokyo were rescheduled, but Taipei, Seoul, Hong Kong and Jakarta were cancelled.

In 2017 Sheeran settled a claim that 'Photograph' copied the chorus of 'Amazing' by which X Factor winner?

Matt Cardle's 'Amazing' writers got a settlement, and Sheeran later said settling made him feel dirty, so he stopped playing 'Photograph' for ages.

Which honour did Sheeran receive from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in December 2017?

MBE day fell on the anniversary of the death of his grandfather Bill, a 'massive royalist' who Sheeran said would be 'pretty proud'.

Sheeran won a 2024 Emmy for an original song written for which TV series?

Ted Lasso commissioned two songs for its third season, and Sheeran's 'A Beautiful Game' beat Sam Ryder's 'Fought & Lost' to the award.

Which singer-songwriter did an 11-year-old Sheeran meet after a small club gig in Ireland, a moment he called an epiphany?

Damien Rice was 'unbelievably cool', Sheeran said, and he went straight home and started writing songs.

Which singer did Sheeran grow up listening to, and later channel while writing 'Thinking Out Loud'?

Van Morrison's influence was so plain that, Sheeran testified in 2023, the song's producers called 'Thinking Out Loud' 'the Van Morrison tune'.

Sheeran's cousin, Gordon Burns, hosted which British game show?

The Krypton Factor ran with Burns as host from 1977 to 1995, and years later he had Sheeran as a guest on his radio show.

In 2007, teenage Sheeran joined a Youth Music Theatre UK show in Plymouth based on which novel?

Frankenstein played Plymouth's Barbican Theatre, and a year later he told BBC Suffolk it had made him really passionate about acting as well as music.

In December 2019, which body named Sheeran its 'artist of the decade' for the 2010s?

The Official Charts Company's chief said Sheeran began the decade as a 'little known' 18-year-old from Suffolk, before 12 number-one singles and albums.

In July 2015, Sheeran played three sold-out nights alone on stage at which London stadium?

Wembley Stadium had been his stated ambition: to play it on his own, with no band, in front of 80,000 people.

Ed Sheeran voiced Brendan, a gifted young pianist, in a 2018 episode of which animated series?

The Simpsons made his character a boy Lisa falls for at a STEM conference, which leaves her ex-boyfriend Nelson jealous.

In the music video for Bad Habits, Ed Sheeran wears a hot pink suit to play which creature?

A vampire let him play on the nature of habits in a fantastical way, he said, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer as one inspiration. It was filmed at a shopping centre in Catford, London.

Ed Sheeran wrote the 2022 single Celestial for the end credits of two games in which franchise?

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet close with the song, which grew out of a joke he shared with the company's staff while travelling in Japan.

Ed Sheeran's ÷ Tour became the highest-grossing ever in 2019 by passing which band's 360° Tour?

U2 had held the record since 2011. Ed passed it despite playing mostly smaller venues and keeping ticket prices low, with no VIP areas.

Ed Sheeran made his name playing alone, building each song live with a guitar and which piece of gear?

A loop pedal records each part as he plays it, so he can stack rhythm, chords and harmonies alone. He once built a whole song that way in five minutes for an SBTV video.

Ed Sheeran co-wrote Permission to Dance, a 2021 US number one, for which South Korean group?

BTS took the song straight to the top of the Hot 100, where it replaced the group's own single Butter. Ed had already co-written Make It Right for them in 2019.

Ed Sheeran plays himself, meeting the heroine at a music festival, in which 2016 romantic comedy?

Bridget Jones's Baby has Renée Zellweger's heroine run into him at a festival. The tartan shirt he wore in the scene was later auctioned to raise money for a hospice.

Ed Sheeran closed which British festival as final-night headliner in June 2017, before 135,000 people?

Glastonbury had put him in its BBC Introducing tent in 2011, where he announced his second single. Six years later he was closing the whole festival.

Among Ed Sheeran's more than 60 tattoos, which animal takes pride of place on his chest?

A lion sits on his chest. Another tattoo, the word RED in scarlet, marks the months he spent as the opening act on Taylor Swift's 2013 tour.

Which Australian pop singer is heard on Ed Sheeran's Visiting Hours, a tribute to promoter Michael Gudinski?

Kylie Minogue and rocker Jimmy Barnes, both close friends of Gudinski, lent their voices. Ed first performed the song at the promoter's memorial service in March 2021.

Which London rapper trades verses with Ed Sheeran on Take Me Back to London, a 2019 UK number one?

Stormzy and Ed reached the top only after a remix of the track came out. The pair had already performed together at the 2017 Brit Awards.

Ed Sheeran features on Sausage Rolls for Everyone, the UK's 2021 Christmas number one by which act?

LadBaby turned his festive duet into a sausage roll parody two weeks after the original, raising money for the Trussell Trust and becoming the first act with four Christmas number ones in a row.

In late 2013 Ed Sheeran headlined three sold-out nights at which New York venue?

Madison Square Garden got an early hearing of Tenerife Sea during the run, a song he was holding back for his second album.

Ed Sheeran opened for which veteran British band at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium in June 2015?

The Rolling Stones booked him for a single date of their Zip Code Tour. Two weeks later he was headlining stadium shows of his own in London.

Ed Sheeran joined which charity supergroup in November 2014 to record a single for the Ebola crisis?

Band Aid 30 gathered British and Irish pop acts at Sarm West Studios in London to record a new version of Do They Know It's Christmas? for the cause.

Ed Sheeran co-wrote Hello My Love, the 2019 comeback single of which Irish vocal group?

Westlife were a childhood favourite of his: Ed has said he played guitar along to their Greatest Hits album at the age of ten.

Ed Sheeran filmed a guest role as a character based on himself for which Australian soap in 2015?

Home and Away fitted him in while he was visiting Australia, a year after his acting debut as himself in the New Zealand soap Shortland Street.

Johnny McDaid, who co-wrote Shape of You with Ed Sheeran, is a member of which band?

Snow Patrol took Ed across the United States as their support act in 2012. McDaid later moved to Nashville with him to work on his second album.

Which American singer joins Ed Sheeran on Beautiful People, a UK number one in July 2019?

Khalid's duet was the second chart-topper from No.6 Collaborations Project. Ed later released a solo acoustic version without him.

Besides the guitar he learned at eleven, Ed Sheeran played which other string instrument as a child?

Cello was the other instrument of his childhood, and music started even earlier for him: he joined a local church choir at the age of four.

Ed Sheeran co-wrote Strip That Down, a 2017 debut solo single featuring Quavo, for which singer?

Liam Payne met Ed in London in the late summer of 2016, and the song came together as they sat discussing life. Ed also added vocals to the finished track.

Ed Sheeran wrote a song for the closing credits of which 2014 tearjerker about two teenagers with cancer?

The Fault in Our Stars ends on his All of the Stars, which he wanted to feel sad yet euphoric. He later performed it as a duet with Christina Grimmie on The Voice.

Which pop singer worked with Ed Sheeran twice, on South of the Border in 2019 and Bam Bam in 2022?

Camila Cabello shared South of the Border with him and Cardi B. In its video, Ed plays a character called Teddy Fingers.

Ed Sheeran's two daughters, who joined him on his Mathematics Tour, are named Lyra and which planet?

Jupiter was born in 2022, two years after her sister Lyra. Both girls travelled with their parents on the tour, though they never appeared on stage.

When over 1,000 fans turned up to Ed Sheeran's free 2011 show at Camden's Barfly, how did he respond?

He played four separate shows so that everyone got to see one, the last of them out on the street after the venue had closed. A record deal followed later that month.

In 2012 Ed Sheeran was named a baron of which self-declared micronation on a fort in the North Sea?

Sealand occupies a Second World War sea fort a few miles off the coast of Suffolk, the county where Ed grew up.

Ed Sheeran's 2018 Australia and New Zealand shows broke a ticket record set in 1986 by which band?

Dire Straits had held the Australasian record for 32 years. Ed passed it by playing to more than 950,000 people across March and April.

Ed Sheeran says the first CD he ever bought was Conspiracy of One by which Californian punk band?

The Offspring album was paid for with ten pounds from his aunt, and he used to play its song Million Miles Away in front of a mirror. He later performed it with the band.

A 2018 poll of great Yorkshiremen ranked Ed Sheeran fourth, behind two actors and which Monty Python comedian?

Michael Palin led the list, ahead of actors Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart. Ed was born in the county but left for Suffolk at the age of four.

Which label signed Ed Sheeran in 2011 after his self-released EP reached number two on iTunes?

Asylum Records moved after No.5 Collaborations Project sold over 7,000 copies in its first week with no promotion and no label behind it.

The cover of Ed Sheeran's 2014 album × shows a black lowercase letter on which colour of background?

Green ran through that whole album cycle, right down to the jewel case. Ed took the idea of one look per album from Coldplay.

Ed Sheeran co-wrote 2002, a 2018 hit titled after a year, with which English singer?

Anne-Marie took the song to number three in the UK. It went on to top South Korea's year-end chart for 2019, a first for a non-Korean track.

The music video for Ed Sheeran's Photograph is a montage of what kind of footage?

Home videos of his childhood fill the clip, from infancy to a teenage Ed busking in Galway. He had gathered them for a documentary and could not attend a normal video shoot.

Which drum and bass band remixed Ed Sheeran's Bloodstream into a joint single that reached UK number two?

Rudimental had helped write the original album track. Their heavier remix doubled as the lead single from the band's own album, We the Generation.

Which British rock band recorded a heavier version of Bad Habits with Ed Sheeran in 2022?

Bring Me the Horizon suit a side of Ed few expect: he had a Kerrang! subscription as a teenager and counts Slipknot and Korn among his influences.

Which co-founder of Def Jam Recordings re-recorded the songs for Ed Sheeran's album × with him?

Rick Rubin helped him cut hundreds of songs down to an album's worth. Ed said the sessions made tunes he had grown tired of sound raw and interesting again.

Which member of The National, also a Taylor Swift collaborator, produced Ed Sheeran's 2023 album −?

Aaron Dessner wrote more than thirty songs with him in a month-long session, later cut down to fourteen. Dessner had also produced Folklore and Evermore.

Ed Sheeran recorded a Comic Relief single in 2017 with the cast of which mockumentary sitcom?

People Just Do Nothing follows the crew of Kurupt FM, a pirate radio station in west London. Ed joined its cast for the telethon's charity single.

Ed Sheeran shot the video for which 2022 single in Kyiv, later re-recording it with Ukrainian band Antytila?

2step was filmed in the Ukrainian capital before the 2022 invasion, and the video's YouTube revenue was pledged to Ukraine. A dozen more global remixes of the song followed.

Ed Sheeran plays a character called Mick in a 2019 episode of which Amazon anthology series?

Modern Love cast him in the first-season episode Hers Was a World of One, about a couple adopting the baby of a homeless young woman.

The lyrics of Ed Sheeran's The Joker and the Queen explain love through an analogy with what?

A card game runs through the whole lyric, which Ed wrote in about twenty minutes of jotting down metaphors. Taylor Swift took over the second verse on the duet version.

Ed Sheeran wrote Nancy Mulligan about his grandparents; his grandfather made their wedding ring by melting what?

Gold teeth from the dental surgery where he worked went into the ring. William, a Belfast Protestant, wed Nancy, a Catholic, in borrowed clothes, and nobody came to the wedding.

Which ÷ ballad did Ed Sheeran write after meeting the new partner of his first girlfriend from school?

Happier came from seeing the pair together and realising the man suited her far better than he ever had. Ed called the moment a kind of epiphany.

Which song, the last on the standard edition of ÷, did Ed Sheeran write about his late grandmother?

Supermarket Flowers was meant to stay a private tribute, but his grandfather heard him play it at her funeral and insisted it go on the album.

Which × track about a girlfriend cheating with a close friend became Ed Sheeran's first US top 10 single?

Don't grew from a riff he had kept on his phone for a year. Ed declined to name the fellow singer it is about, saying the song is too negative.

Which Scottish singer-songwriter, seen in the Drunk video, is the subject of Ed Sheeran's Photograph?

Nina Nesbitt dated Ed in 2012 and answered in kind: most of her own album Peroxide is about him.

Ed Sheeran reworked Eyes Closed from a love song into a tribute to which late friend, the founder of SB.TV?

Jamal Edwards died in February 2022, and Ed heard the news a day after the two had been texting about a music video. The single went straight to number one in the UK.

Which love song on Ed Sheeran's debut album describes how his godparents went from best friends to a couple?

Kiss Me follows the pair's slow path: the boy falls first and the girl takes a while to feel the same. Ed told the story on stage at the 2012 iTunes Festival.

Which × track has Ed Sheeran rapping about a failed relationship in a style likened to Mike Skinner's?

The Man also touches on marriage, chemical dependency and his own career in the music industry. It was produced by his long-time collaborator Jake Gosling.

Ed Sheeran wrote One, the first song for his album ×, on a guitar made from the wood of what?

A whisky barrel supplied the wood, and he wrote the song in a hotel room in Perth while on tour in 2011. It was his last about the girlfriend who inspired his debut album.