Ed Sheeran Trivia
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109 free Ed Sheeran trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Ed Sheeran went from busking London venues and sleeping on sofas to the highest-grossing concert tour ever staged, and this quiz covers the whole run. It takes in his Yorkshire birth and Suffolk upbringing, the grime EP that got him noticed, + and "The A Team", the × era of "Sing" and "Thinking Out Loud", the record-shredding ÷ with "Shape of You", "Castle on the Hill" and "Perfect", the collaborations album, =, − , Autumn Variations and 2025's Play. Expect the famous stories (the Game of Thrones cameo, the Heinz ketchup tattoo, the Grammy performance Elton John talked him into) alongside things only proper fans know: which TLC song earned writing credits on "Shape of You", who kept "Thinking Out Loud" off number one in America, the guitar tech job that started it all, and the pseudonym-free truth about the "Perfect" string section. Difficulty is marked on every question, from easy to expert. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles for Ed Sheeran, his albums, singles and tours, and each question shows its citation, so nothing here rests on a fan-site rumour.
30 of 109 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Ed Sheeran was born in 1991 in which West Yorkshire town?
Halifax
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.
Q 02Which Suffolk market town, where his family moved when he was four, does Sheeran call home?
Framlingham
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.
Q 03Sheeran says seeing which guitarist at the Queen's 2002 Golden Jubilee concert made him take up guitar?
Eric Clapton
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.
Q 04Sheeran was a guitar tech for which duo, known for 'JCB Song', before opening for them?
Nizlopi
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.
Q 05Sheeran credits rapping along to which album with helping him overcome a childhood stutter?
The Marshall Mathers LP
Years after learning The Marshall Mathers LP by heart, Sheeran featured on the same rapper's 2017 album, Revival.
Q 06Which singer-songwriter has been Sheeran's friend since they both played a tiny Cambridge basement gig when Ed was about 15?
Passenger
Passenger, the 'Let Her Go' singer, said Sheeran's invitation to open his tours helped spark a huge spike in his career.
Q 07Which actor invited Sheeran to stay at his LA home and use his recording studio in 2010?
Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx made the offer after Sheeran, playing open-mic nights around LA, landed a slot on Foxx's show.
Q 08Sheeran's 2011 breakthrough EP, No.5 Collaborations Project, featured artists from which UK scene?
Grime
Grime MCs such as Wiley, JME and Devlin guested, and the self-funded EP reached number two on iTunes without a label or promotion.
Q 09Which song was Sheeran's debut single and first hit?
The A Team
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.
Q 10Which symbol titles Sheeran's 2011 album featuring 'Lego House' and 'Drunk'?
+ (Plus)
+ (Plus) topped the UK chart on 102,000 first-week sales, and Sheeran thanked fans by giving away a free EP.
Q 11Which Harry Potter actor stars in the "Lego House" video as a play on his resemblance to Sheeran?
Rupert Grint
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'.
Q 12Which Pink Floyd song did Sheeran cover at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics?
Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here had Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason playing behind him, while a tightrope walker crossed high above the stadium.
Q 13Which boy band had a UK number one with 'Little Things', a song Sheeran co-wrote?
One Direction
One Direction had already recorded his 'Moments', and Liam Payne said Sheeran gave them almost a whole album of songs to choose from.
Q 21What does Sheeran spend the 'Thinking Out Loud' music video doing?
Performing a ballroom dance
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.
Q 22A 2023 New York jury cleared Sheeran of copying which Marvin Gaye song in "Thinking Out Loud"?
Let's Get It On
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.
Q 23Sheeran wrote which Justin Bieber hit, having originally planned to put it on his own third album?
Love Yourself
Q 14Sheeran co-wrote and sang on which single from Taylor Swift's album Red?
Everything Has Changed
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.
Q 15Which star performed Sheeran's Song of the Year nominee with him at the 2013 Grammys?
Elton John
Elton John later co-wrote and sang the 2021 charity single 'Merry Christmas' with him, one of three holiday songs the pair wrote together.
Q 16Sheeran's 2013 song "I See Fire" plays over the end credits of which film?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug got a song Sheeran produced himself, playing every instrument except the cello and learning violin in a day.
Q 17Which song gave Sheeran his first UK number one in 2014?
Sing
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.
Q 18Which song on × did Sheeran write about his grandfather, who had Alzheimer's disease?
Afire Love
Afire Love was begun two weeks before his grandfather died; Sheeran said he was thinking 'What if?' and then it happened.
Q 19Which song kept "Thinking Out Loud" at number two on the US Hot 100 for eight weeks?
Uptown Funk
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.
Q 20Sheeran wrote 'Thinking Out Loud' with which Wales-based songwriter?
Amy Wadge
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.
Love Yourself 'just wouldn't have made' ÷, Sheeran said, but Bieber turned it into Billboard's number one song of 2016.
Q 24Sheeran said "Shape of You" was written with which singer in mind before he kept it for himself?
Rihanna
Rihanna never received it: Sheeran decided halfway through writing that the lyrics suited him better, so the song was never sent to her.
Q 25The writers of which TLC song were added to the songwriting credits of 'Shape of You'?
No Scrubs
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.
Q 26Which song overtook 'Shape of You' as Spotify's most-streamed song ever?
Blinding Lights
Blinding Lights by The Weeknd was shut out of the 2021 Grammy nominations, and he tweeted that 'the Grammys remain corrupt'.
Q 27Which song, released the same day as 'Shape of You', debuted at UK number two?
Castle on the Hill
Castle on the Hill's video was shot in his hometown with a cast of pupils from the high school he attended.
Q 28÷ 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
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.
Q 29Whose record of nine top-10 UK singles from one album did Sheeran break with ÷ in 2017?
Calvin Harris
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.
Q 30Which singer joined Sheeran on 'Perfect Duet', the 2017 remake of his ballad 'Perfect'?
Beyoncé
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.