After the release of his second album X in 2014, Ed Sheeran has spent this year riding the wave of its success. He’s played to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, released a cinema documentary, launched a record label and broken all sorts of industry records. Now it’s time for a well-deserved break.
Ed Sheeran began 2015 continuing the European leg of the X Tour (he’d already done the UK and North America in 2014) and has since been permanently on the road. He’s performed all over Europe, Asia, Oceania, North and South America and even had time for a few special dates in London and Dublin: two cities very close to Ed’s heart.
The three July dates at London’s 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium marked a major moment in Ed’s career. Two years ago Ed would never have expected to sell out Wembley, let alone be joined on stage by his idol Elton John. BTW: their rendition of ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ is AMAZING.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A99bMsaDwsQ]
In the early days of his career, Ed Sheeran’s goal was to play the 2000 capacity Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Once that was done, he moved the goalposts and aimed to play bigger and bigger venues – until he reached Wembley Stadium. This inspired the title for Ed’s 2015 film Jumpers for Goalposts, “’cos we keep moving ‘em.”
The concert documentary Jumpers for Goalposts premiered in October and follows Ed during his three Wembley dates, mixing on-stage footage with behind-the-scenes musings. It’s now available on DVD as part of the ‘Wembley Edition’ of X which also includes five new songs. Yep, he’s been quite busy this year.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4nF18vyTk]
On top of all this music and movie business Ed Sheeran’s even had time for a bit of TV presenting. Must have had a spare day to fill. A few days after the Jumpers for Goalposts premiere, Ed hosted the MTV EMAs along with Ruby Rose in Milan. He did a great job and really seemed to enjoy himself – and the gin. He was having a good time. LET HIM LIVE.
2015 was also the year that Ed Sheeran launched his own record label, Gingerbread Man Records, using his success to help others make it in music. His first signing Jamie Lawson has racked up 8 million YouTube views in just 3 months with his debut single ‘Wasn’t Expecting That’ – all thanks to Ed. This year Ed Sheeran has committed himself to giving exposure to talented and deserving but otherwise unnoticed artists, and he’s done a pretty good job so far.
Turning his focus to other artists hasn’t hindered Ed’s personal success. 2015 has seen Ed Sheeran consolidate his position as one of the biggest music artists in the world, reaching 3 billion streams on Spotify with 500 million plays of ‘Thinking Out Loud’ alone. This means he has the third most worldwide listeners of any artist. Ed Sheeran’s music touches so many people and we’re incredibly proud.
And it doesn’t stop there. Ed Sheeran has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, both for ‘Thinking Out Loud’. We hope to see him picking up some trophies at the ceremony on 15th February 2016 (just two days before his 25th birthday, FYI).
Other of Ed’s random 2015 achievements include a cameo in Home and Away, a weird stint in The Bastard Executioner (which has now unfortunately been axed) and an appearance in Bridget Jones 3 set to bless our cinema screens in September 2016. What a time to be alive.
So yeah, Ed Sheeran’s been pretty busy this year. 2015 drew to a close with Ed’s final X Tour show at Auckland Stadium, shortly followed by an announcement that he will be taking a break from social media in 2016. After all this non-stop work, he needs a rest. Here’s to a third album next autumn – fingers crossed.
What do you make of that then? Impressed with all that Ed Sheeran has achieved this year? Leave a comment or let us know with a tweet to @CelebMix. You can check out our other year reviews right here.