" How Would You Feel (Paean)" was released on 17 February 2017 as a promotional single with its pre-order. " Happier" was released on 27 April 2018 as the album's fifth and final single in Italy. The song was sent to top 40 radio on 26 September 2017. On 21 August 2017, Billboard announced that " Perfect" would be the fourth single from the album. It was added to BBC Radio 2's playlist the following day (18 March 2017). " Galway Girl" was announced as the third single via Sheeran's Twitter on 17 March 2017. Sheeran teased the tracks on social media during the week leading up to their release, posting instrumental extracts and each song's opening lyric. " Castle on the Hill" and " Shape of You", the album's lead singles, were issued on 6 January 2017. By its second day of release, the videos of songs from the album had achieved a cumulative one billion views on YouTube, including figures from "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill" released earlier. Both records were broken by Drake's More Life 16 days later. In total, all tracks by Sheeran were streamed 68.7 million times that day, with the single " Shape of You" receiving 10.12 million streams, both also breaking previous records on Spotify. Worldwide, on the day of its release, the tracks of the album achieved a total of 56.73 million streams on Spotify in a single day, breaking the previous record of 29 million for Starboy by The Weeknd in November 2016. ÷ was released on 3 March 2017 through Asylum Records. On 12 January 2017, Sheeran revealed the tracklist and the release date for the album with its pre-order. On 1 January 2017, Sheeran officially ended his hiatus by announcing that "new music" would be released on 6 January.
On 13 December 2015, Sheeran announced a self-imposed hiatus from social media, commenting that he found himself "seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes." He further ensured that some of this time would be spent creating his third album, which he considered "the best thing I have made thus far." Exactly one year after this announcement, on 13 December 2016, Sheeran's various social media platforms posted pictures of a blank blue square to state his imminent return to music. By August 2019 it had become the biggest, most attended, and highest-grossing tour of all time. Comprising 260 shows, it started on 16 March 2017 and ended on 26 August 2019 with the last of four homecoming gigs in Ipswich, Suffolk. To promote the album, Sheeran embarked on a worldwide concert tour, entitled the ÷ Tour. His fourth single from ÷, " Perfect", reached number one in the US, Australia and the UK, where it became the Christmas number one of 2017. The dominance of its tracks on the UK chart led to calls for change on how the single chart is compiled, and the Official Charts Company then introduced new rules limiting tracks eligible for entry in the top 100 to three per the main artist, as well as adjusting the streams-to-sales ratio for older songs. Īll the tracks on the album reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart in the week of the album's release. In October 2019 it was ranked the fifth best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK. In April 2018, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry named ÷ the best-selling album worldwide of the year.
"Divide" topped the charts in over 25 territories across the globe, including the United States, Canada, and Australia. The album was number one in the United Kingdom, selling 672,000 copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling album by a male solo artist there and the highest opening behind Adele's 25 and Oasis' Be Here Now. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. " Castle on the Hill" and " Shape of You" were released as the album's lead singles on 6 January 2017.
It was released on 3 March 2017 through Asylum Records and Atlantic Records. ÷ ("Divide") is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.