Ed Sheeran's North American Stadium Tour Approaches $300 Million Earned
9/27/2018 by Eric Frankenberg
Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) Tour carries on, sweeping through U.S. stadiums and impacting the Hot Tours recap dated Sept. 29, 2018. Most recently, Sheeran played a two-night engagement at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. on Sept. 21 and 22.
These stadium shows represent a leap forward for the British singer-songwriter, graduating from the North American arenas that marked the first several legs of the Divide Tour. Sheeran played three nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Sept. 29 – Oct. 1, 2017, playing to 41,066 fans and grossing $3.7 million, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Just one year later, he returned to the New York area at MetLife, selling 107,550 tickets and generating $11.2 million -- three times the gross from the Barclays shows.
This mirrors Sheeran’s trajectory in other markets as well. He grossed $2.3 million from 25,590 tickets sold at Boston’s TD Garden in September of 2017 and returned one year later for two shows at Gillette Stadium to quadruple his intake, grossing $9.8 million from 110,238 tickets sold.
Similarly, Sheeran grossed $2.6 million and sold 30,516 tickets across two shows at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre in July of 2017, before selling out two nights at the Rogers Centre on Aug. 30 and 31, 2018, bringing in $8.5 million from 98,462 fans.
The strides forward that Sheeran continues to make in North America follow his 2018 successes at European and Australian stadiums, peaking earlier this year with four shows at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium. There, he delivered his career-best gross, with $20.9 million in the bank from a staggering 256,622 tickets sold on Mar. 9-12, 2018.
The Divide Tour began in Turin, Italy on Mar. 16, 2017 and has traveled around the world and back in the year and a half since. In that time, Sheeran has grossed $290.1 million and sold 3.3 million tickets across 149 dates reported so far. With 39 dates remaining over the next year, the trek could rise to compete with some of the highest-grossing tours of the decade before closing in Ipswich, England on Aug. 24, 2019.
See below for the full Hot Tours tally, featuring strong showings from Iron Maiden, Harry Styles, and Luis Miguel.
| HOT TOURS - SEPT. 29, 2018 | |
| Ranked by Gross, Compiled from Boxscores reported Sept. 18-24 | |
| ACT | |
| Total Gross | |
| Show Date Range | |
| Venue, City (Shows/Sellouts) | |
| Total Attendance (Capacity) | |
| RANK | |
| 1 | Beyonce & Jay-Z |
| $51,142,476 | |
| Aug. 29 - Sept. 23 | |
| Camping World Stadium, Orlando. Fla. (1/1) | |
| Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, Fla. (1/1) | |
| AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas (1/1) | |
| Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans (1/1) | |
| NRG Stadium, Houston (0/2) | |
| State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz. (1/1) | |
| Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif. (2/2) | |
| 390,044 (398,044) | |
| 2 | Journey & Def Leppard |
| $24,409,218 | |
| Aug. 11 - Sept. 18 | |
| Fenway Park, Boston (1/1) | |
| Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, Va. (0/1) | |
| Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, S.C. (1/1) | |
| BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla. (1/1) | |
| Amalie Arena, Tampa, Fla. (1/1) | |
| Legacy Arena at the BBJC, Birmingham, Ala. (0/1) | |
| Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio (1/1) | |
| Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Mo. (0/1) | |
| Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, La. (1/1) | |
| AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas (1/1) | |
| Toyota Center, Houston (2/2) | |
| Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Ariz. (1/1) | |
| T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas (1/1) | |
| Isleta Amphitheater, Albuquerque, N.M. (0/1) | |
| 234,403 (240,450) | |
| 3 | Iron Maiden |
| $20,414,219 | |
| June 30 - Aug. 7 | |
| Messeglande, Hanover, Germany (1/1) | |
| GelreDome, Arnhem, Netherlands (0/1) | |
| AccorHotels Arena, Paris (2/2) | |
| Ippodromo, Milan, Italy (0/1) | |
| Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal (0/1) | |
| Wanda Metropolitano, Madrid (1/1) | |
| Arena Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia (1/1) | |
| Tauron Arena, Krakow, Poland (2/2) | |
| Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England (1/1) | |
| SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland (1/1) | |
| Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre, Aberdeen, Scotland (1/1) | |
| Manchester Arena, Manchester, England (1/1) | |
| Genting Arena, Birmingham, Endland (1/1) | |
| 265,435 (269,837) | |
| 4 | U2 |
| $18,125,023 | |
| Sept. 4 - 17 | |
| Lanxess Arena, Koln, Germany (0/2) | |
| AccorHotels Arena, Paris (4/4) | |
| Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal (2/2) | |
| 144,752 (144,774) | |
| 5 | Harry Styles |
| $14,961,203 | |
| June 24 - July 14 | |
| Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C. (1/1) | |
| Little Caesars Arena, Detroit (1/1) | |
| Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Ind. (1/1) | |
| United Center, Chicago (1/1) | |
| Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn. (1/1) | |
| Pepsi Center, Denver (1/1) | |
| Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia (1/1) | |
| KeyArena, Seattle (1/1) | |
| Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Calif. (1/1) | |
| SAP Center, San Jose, Calif. (1/1) | |
| The Forum, Inglewood, Calif. (2/2) | |
| 186,754 (186,754) | |
| 6 | Ed Sheeran |
| $11,220,207 | |
| Sept. 21 -22 | |
| MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. (2/2) | |
| 107,500 (107,500) | |
| 7 | Luis Miguel |
| $7,715,312 | |
| Aug. 30 - Sept. 16 | |
| AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas (1/1) | |
| Bert Ogden Arena, Edinburg, Texas (1/1) | |
| Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas (1/1) | |
| Sandia Casino Amphitheater, Albuquerque, N.M. (1/1) | |
| Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (1/1) | |
| Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif. (1/1) | |
| Save Mart Center, Fresno, Calif. (0/1) | |
| The Forum, Inglewood, Calif. (1/1) | |
| 62,965 (63,857) | |
| 8 | Eagles |
| $5,982,028 | |
| Sept. 12 - 15 | |
| The Forum, Inglewood, Calif. (3/3) | |
| 41,021 (41,021) | |
| 9 | Depeche Mode |
| $3,857,267 | |
| July 23 - 25 | |
| Waldbuhne, Berlin (2/2) | |
| 43,783 (43,783) | |
| 10 | Post Malone |
| $3,707,473 | |
| June 24 - 28 | |
| Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, Calif. (1/1) | |
| Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles (2/2) | |
| 53,576 (53,576) |