Ed Sheeran has now sold more than 1 million copies of new album ÷.
According to Official Charts Company figures, the album crossed the million threshold on Sunday (March 19), and now sits on a to-date sales total of 1,069,239.
It took the singer just 16 days to reach the milestone, and the album has sold 94,177 copies so far this week.
No album released in 2016 sold as many copies as ÷, with Michael Ball and Alfie Boe’s Together the biggest-selling release of last year (511,699 copies).
Emphasising the significance of Sheeran’s feat is the fact that the biggest-selling album of 2016 in the UK was Adele’s 25 (753,194 copies), which was originally released in 2015.
The news comes after Sheeran’s X, released in 2014, passed the 3m sales mark, prompted by a surge in the wake of ÷’s release.
Sheeran still occupies top spot in the singles chart with Shape Of You according to the latest midweek figures. Galway Girl – released officially as a single on Friday (March 17) – occupies the No.2 spot and there are nine tracks from ÷ in the Top 20.
Read the story of ÷, as told by Atlantic president Ben Cook, here.
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