Ed Sheeran

If most quality singer-songwriters are led to believe that cult-level success is the best they’re liable to obtain, then Ed Sheeran clearly paid no heed. This singular British tunesmith ignored that directive from the off – and he now counts himself among the world’s biggest-ever pop stars, with a tally of over 150 million album sales under his belt.

Though his meteoric rise seemed to take place overnight, this Yorkshire-born, Suffolk-raised entertainer is no stranger to paying his dues: Sheeran slogged through well over five years’ worth of small gigs and self-released EPs before his 2011 debut album, +, hit paydirt, going platinum eight times over in the UK alone.

To his credit, Sheeran didn’t freeze in the intense glare of mainstream scrutiny, and he’s since gone from strength to strength. Stuffed with quirky but eminently accessible pop hits such as Perfect, Shape Of You and Bad Habits, his albums ×, ÷ and = have breezed their way to multi-platinum sales, while his 2021 success in the UK Christmas No.1 stakes (with both Elton John and LadBaby) proves Ed Sheeran’s star shows no sign of waning.