Executives from across the music industry have hailed Ed Sheeran, as stunning sales for his new album ÷ moved the singer-songwriter into the global superstar bracket.

÷ (Asylum/Atlantic) posted the highest ever Week 1 sale for a Q1 album, and became the third fastest-selling album of all time (after Adele’s 2015 album 25 and Oasis’ 1997 release Be Here Now), finishing with 671,542 sales, according to the Official Charts Company.

Sales across all formats were impressive, with 418,897 physical, 173,701 ...