FKP’s Ed Sheeran tour ends with 750,000 tickets sold

As Ed Sheeran closed the latest European leg of his ÷ tour at the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw, Poland, organisers FKP Scorpio celebrated their most successful tour to date. Across shows in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Poland, a total of 750,000 tickets were sold, numbers which only go further to cementing Sheeran’s place as the most successful musician in the world today.

Among the list of successful sell-out shows was his July performance at Hamburg’s Trabrennbahn Bahrenfeld stadium which attracted 80,000 people, Sheeran’s biggest crowd in mainland Europe this year. Following in the footsteps of rock legends like the Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters, who have both played the venue in the last year, Sheeran’s one-man show impressed fans, organisers and local officials alike.

“An artist who can capture a giant stadium all on his own, while creating such a relaxed and indeed magical atmosphere, demonstrates true art.”

Speaking of the unprecedented success of the ÷ tour, FKP managing director Folkert Koopmans says: “The huge crowds of fans that Ed Sheeran now attracts speak for themselves.

“An artist who can capture a giant stadium all on his own, while creating such a relaxed and indeed magical atmosphere, demonstrates true art. His tour is the largest that we, as his promoter, have organised in recent months – even bigger than the Rolling Stones.”

2018 has been Sheeran’s most successful to date. Alongside some 750,000 ticket sales in Europe alone and record-smashing runs in Australasia, the ÷ tour’s performance worldwide has earned him the top spot on Pollstar’s mid-year Top 100 Tours chart. With 2,624,148 tickets sold globally – equalling profits of $213.9 million –  in the first half of the year, the rest of 2018 is projected to be just as fruitful for the Yorkshire-born singer-songwriter.

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Ed Sheeran tops worldwide ticket sales list

In case there had been any doubt, the latest Pollstar mid-year Top 100 Tours chart has proven once again that the world just can’t seem to get enough of British-born singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. With well over twice the ticket sales of runner-up Disney on Ice, Sheeran has topped the list with his ÷ tour (pronounced ‘divide’).

This year’s performance is an improvement on an already impressive 2017 effort from Sheeran. Last year saw him place seventh on the same list with some 1,408,681 tickets sold worldwide. With only half of 2018 completed, he has already nearly doubled this figure, selling a total of 2,624,148 tickets and counting, bolstered by record-breaking runs in Australasia and the UK.

Those 2,624,148 tickets translate into profits of $213.9 million gross for Sheeran, nearly twice as much as the next highest grossing Bruno Mars tour. According to Pollstar Boxoffice reports, this is the largest ever profit recorded on the mid-year chart. It represents a 40% increase over last year, leaving top spot winners Guns N’ Roses way behind.

With only half of 2018 completed, he has already nearly doubled this figure, selling a total of 2,624,148 tickets and counting

The ÷ tour officially kicked off in Turin in March 2017 with a 32-date European leg around the continent. Following Europe, Sheeran took the show to Latin America, North America, Asia, Australasia and then back to Europe again. Before the final show in Cape Town in March 2019, 210 shows in and some two years after the tour began, he will be visiting North America again.

Since its beginning, the tour has broken numerous records around the world. In Ireland, more than 300,000 tickets were sold in a single day, making Sheeran the first artist to sell that many tickets so quickly in the country. Across the world in Australasia, the ÷ tour broke the official record for the most tickets ever sold, with over one million.

Sheeran and runner-up Disney on Ice were the clear winners of the mid-year round up, as the only tours that have so far managed to break into the millions. Filling out the rest of the top five are Bruno Mars with 739,575 tickets sold, Pink with 691,953 and Kenny Chesney with 669,646.

Photo: © Drew de Fawkes / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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