Sheeran began recording music in 2004 and released a collection of works, Spinning Man, independently. He released his first EP in 2005, then released two albums in the next three years. He began to gain a small audience by performing in smaller venues in and around London. Sheeran has also collaborated with various artists and toured with Just Jack. In 2010, he traveled to Los Angeles, where he caught the eye of Jamie Foxx, who offered him free recording space and lodging while he was in town. He then released two more EPs. Back in London, in April 2011, Sheeran played a free show at the Barfly in Camden Town to over 1,000 fans. His EP, “No. 5 Collaborations Project” became an iTunes hit and he was signed to Asylum/Atlantic Records. Sheeran released his debut studio album, +, in 2011, which reached number one in four countries and number four in the United States. His single “Shape of You” reached number 1 in 10 countries and he also had big hits with the songs “The A-Team”, “Lego House”, “I See Fire”, “Sing”, “Don’t”, “Thinking Aloud”, “Photography”, “Castle on the Hill”, “Galway Girl” and “Perfect”.
His second album, x, was released in 2014 in nine countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Sheeran took a year-long hiatus from social media shortly after the success of x, and in March 2017 he returned with the release of the album Divide.
It debuted at number 1 in the UK, US and many other countries and became the best-selling album by a male solo artist in the UK. It was also the third fastest selling in UK chart history, behind Adele and Oasis. Sheeran and Justin Bieber released a single, “I Don’t Care,” in May 2019, which debuted with 10.977 million daily global streams on Spotify, making it the platform’s single-day streaming record. Sheeran released this album, titled No. 6 Collaborations Project, on July 12, 2019. It debuted at No. 1 in the UK, US, Australia, and other markets. All four of his albums spent a combined 41 weeks at number 1 in the UK. In December 2019, he was named Artist of the Decade by the Official Charts Company. His song “Shape of You” was named the number one song of the decade and Spotify named him the second most streamed artist of the decade, behind Drake as number one. He also holds the record for the highest-grossing concert tour. Sheeran has sold more than 150 million records.