It's official! Ed Sheeran has surpassed U2 for the highest-grossing tour of all-time, as predicted earlier in the week. Technically-speaking, multi-national tours don't normally run as long as Sheeran's Divide Tour, which began as early as March 16, 2017, in Turin, Italy. Since that date, Sheeran has taken his travelling troupe on an incredible 246 concert stops spanning Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North and South America. It had become apparent that Sheeran stood a good chance of eclipsing the record once held by U2, as of December of last year.
Ian Gavan/Getty Images
At a rate of $737.9 million in profits over 8,503,496 tickets sold, Ed Sheeran will have his name etched into the record books at such an early stage of his career. U2's record of $736.4 million gross earnings held firm for 8 years. The Irish rockers had themselves broken a record previously held by The Rolling Stones and their A Bigger Bang tour in 2005-2007. Records are, for all intents and purposes, meant to be shattered.
Although The Divide tour was inevitably conceived in support of his LP bearing the same name, Ed Sheeran's enduring appeal at the box office was undoubtedly boosted by the release of new material just last month. Does Ed Sheeran belong in the same category as the U2's and the Roger Waters' of the game; only time will well?