ED SHEERAN ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN ARENA TOUR
KFC Yum! Center - September 7, 2017
Multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning global superstar Ed Sheeran has announced details for his North American arena tour. Dates begins June 29th at Kansas City, Mo’s Sprint Center and then continue through early October (see attached itinerary). For complete details, please visit www.edsheeran.com/live.htm.
Pre-sales for all North American dates on the tour - powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan, an innovative new tech product from Ticketmaster built to help artists combat bots and get tickets into the hands of real fans who intend to go to the event – are set to begin Monday, March 13th at 10 AM and run through Thursday, March 16th at 10 PM (all times local); supplies are limited. All remaining tickets will then be released to the general public on Friday, March 17th at 10 AM (local) except the July 19th date at Montreal, QC’s Bell Centre, on sale at 12 Noon (local).
The tour celebrates Sheeran’s landmark third studio album, “÷.” The album – pronounced “divide” – includes the universal hit singles, “Shape of You” and “Castle On The Hill,” both of which made incredible chart entries after their simultaneous January release. “Shape of You” debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” – Sheeran’s first time atop the overall chart – and has remained there for six weeks total thus far. Meanwhile, “Castle On The Hill” entered the “Hot 100” at #6, establishing Sheeran as the first artist to ever have two singles make simultaneous top 10 debuts in the chart’s 58-year history. “Shape of You” was quickly certified 2x-platinum by the RIAA, while “Castle on the Hill” earned gold -- the first two songs released in 2017 to achieve RIAA certifications this year.
“Shape of You” is currently #1 at both CHR/Top 40 and Hot AC radio outlets nationwide while also continuing to rule the top spot on iTunes’ “Top Songs” chart and Spotify’s “Top 50” (both Global and U.S.). The song’s official companion video – directed by MTV Video Music Award winner Jason Koenig– is further achieving record-shattering numbers of its own, with individual views in excess of 300 million at Sheeran’s official YouTube alone.
“÷” has fast proven an even greater phenomenon than Sheeran’s 4x RIAA platinum certified second album, 2014’s “x.” Released March 3rd, the album immediately rocketed to #1 on iTunes charts in 96 countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. “÷” has also achieved historic levels of steaming success including the best-ever one day streams for a single artist (68,695,172), best one day streams for an individual album (56,727,861), and best first day streams for an individual album (56,727,861), the latter two statistics almost doubling the previous record-holder’s success. In addition, “Shape of You,” the album’s stellar first single, earned the best one day streams for a single track with a remarkable 10,123.630 streams – besting Sheeran’s own record set earlier this year upon the single’s initial release.
“÷” also stormed streaming worldwide charts, with all 16 of the album’s tracks forming the actual top 16 on Spotify’s “Top 50” in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The complete tracklisting also instantly entered Spotify’s “Global Top 50” chart, as well as the “Top 50” in 13 international markets including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Sheeran is celebrating the announcement of the tour this morning with a live appearance in New York City’s Rockefeller Center as part of NBC’s TODAY “Citi Concert Series.” The performance continues a long series of high profile media appearances supporting “÷,” including NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, CBS This Morning, and both the 59 Annual GRAMMY® Awards and the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards.