It’s been nearly three years since Ed Sheeran released his last album, and the wait for its proper follow-up is close to over as the 25-year-old star has revealed ÷ (pronounced “divide”) will drop March 3. He took to social media this morning to share the announcement, adding that the pre-order will be available tonight at midnight.
Last week, Sheeran made his official return to music with the release of two new singles: "Castle on the Hill" and "Shape of You.” The latter track was one he co-wrote with Rihanna in mind, but ended up keeping for his new album. Both songs have racked up millions of streams and will more than likely pop up on the Billboard Hot 100 chart next week. We wouldn’t be surprised if one or both make a top 10 debut.
"Shape of You" in particular was streamed nearly eight million times in one day (7,940,950) on Spotify, breaking the streaming service's single-day global record previously held by Adele's "Hello."
Sheeran also shared the tracklist for ÷, which boasts 12 songs. No guest features are listed, which is a similar approach he took with his first two albums x and +.
You can check out the tracklist along with the official album cover below.
÷ out 3rd March. Pre-order will go live at midnight in your country x pic.twitter.com/V3mHxxCaOP
On a related note, Ed Sheeran stopped by Capital FM earlier this week to deliver his own acoustic rendition of the theme song for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. On another semi-related note, he recently shared an incredible story of how Eminem found out Kendrick Lamar didn't use a ghostwriter.
While you wait for the pre-order for ÷ to come, grab “Castle on the Hill” and “Shape of You” on iTunes.
