Ed Sheeran sold the most concert tickets in 2022

Ed Sheeran sold more concert tickets this year than any other act, according to Billboard’s end-of-year box office scores.

The English singer-songwriter, who is represented by One Fiinix Live boss Jon Ollier, sold more than three million tickets to 63 concerts on the European leg of his + – = ÷ x (Mathematics) stadium tour.

The outing was also the third highest-grossing tour of 2022, raking in US$246,287,916 (around £202m). Bad Bunny claimed the top spot, grossing $373,463,379 for 65 shows, while Elton John came in second with $334,385,023 for 84 concerts.

Of Sheeran’s 63 concerts, the five-date run at London’s Wembley Stadium in June/July charted highest on Billboard‘s Top Boxscores, coming second after Harry Styles’ 15-date run at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Wembley shows, promoted by FKP Scorpio and Kilimanjaro Live, grossed US$37,232,300 (around £30m) from ticket sales alone and drew 420,269 attendances.

“The success of the + – = ÷ x Tour is simply unprecedented”

A further eight entries for the Mathematics tour can be found in the Top 50 Boxscores, including runs at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, Munich’s Olympiastadion and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

“Superlatives are the order of the day with Ed Sheeran, but the success of this tour is and remains simply incredible,” FKP Scorpio CEO Folkert Koopmans previously told IQ. “The success of the + – = ÷ x Tour is simply unprecedented.”

While Smash!bang!pow, which promoted Sheeran’s record-breaking shows in Denmark, said the ticket sales are “beyond comparison” in Danish music history.

The Mathematics is the follow-up to Sheeran’s 255-show ÷ (Divide) run from 2017-19 which surpassed U2’s 360° as the highest-grossing tour ever, with a gross of $776.2m. It also set a new record for total attendance, at 8,796,567.

Sheeran will continue the Mathematics tour in 2023 with a trip to Australia in February and March and his first North American stadium tour in five years, next summer.

IQ will be publishing an in depth report on Sheeran’s tour in its bumper year-end issue – out shortly.

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