Ed Sheeran, who has been named as one of the top artists of the 2010s, has officially broken the all-time record for the Highest Grossing Tour.
His Divide Tour, in support of his third studio record of the same name, has played 246 shows across the globe since it kicked-off back in March 2016 in Europe. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Sheeran’s trek grossed $737.9 million and sold 8,503,496 tickets during the near three-year run.
The tour reached new heights thanks to a concert on Friday in Odense, Denmark. It was the 246th date on tour and brought in a one-night gross of $6,862,620. He has officially broken the record of U2’s 360 Tour back in 2009 to 2011, which brought in $736.4 million, as well as The Rolling Stones’ A Big Banger Tour, which amassed $558 million from 2005 to 2007. Other notable top-selling tours include AC/DC’s Black Ice Tour or $441 million, Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour at $408 million, and U2’s Vertigo Tour at $389 million.
He previously set the record as the Highest Grossing Tour for a solo artist last year when it hit $460.6 million, surpassing Roger Waters’ The Wall Live Tour, which bought in $459 million from 2010 to 2013. He still has nine more dates left on the tour before wrapping-up on August 26 in Ipswich, England. By the end of the trek, he is projected to have grossed a total of $770-775 million.
Sheeran has been touring in support of 2017’s Divide. The album spent 53 weeks in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, with two consecutive weeks at the top spot. The album is recognizable for hot tracks like “Shape of You” and “Perfect,” following 2014’s 5, which included songs “Don’t” and “Sing.”
Over the past few months, Sheeran has released a string of singles with artists from all different genres, including “I Don’t Care” with pop star Justin Bieber, “Antisocial” with rapper Travis Scott, and “Way To Break My Heart” with EDM’s Skrillex. The 15-newly released songs are a part of his No.6 Collaborations Project, which dropped July 12. Currently, he is the top-streaming artist in the world on Spotify with over 72 million listeners.
