Culture August 29, 2019

Ed Sheeran announces he's taking 18 months off and reflects on the 'wild ride' of his record-breaking 'Divide' tour

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Ed Sheeran’s "Divide" tour ended its two-year run earlier this week, officially becoming the highest-grossing tour of all-time.

Now that the singer's had a few days to process it, he posted a message to Instagram on Wednesday reflecting on the "wild ride" and thanking his entire crew.

"The whole process of writing the album starting in 2015, then recording it in 2016, promoting it, setting out on the road to play it for all of you guys. It’s so weird to put it to bed and move on," he wrote.

He went on to acknowledge everyone involved in making and promoting the album, as well as all the fans who listened to the album and came out to see him on tour.

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"Most of all I want to thank my fantastic touring team, who have given up their lives for 2 and a half years to help me achieve my dreams," he concluded the post. "Thank you for all of your hard work and constant friendship. The Divide tour - 2017 -2019. Officially the biggest tour of all time, so weird to say that, and we survived it!"

He also noted that the tour lasted 893 days and those involved experienced "2 broken arms, 3 marriages" and "4 babies."

Sheeran and his crew traveled a total of 193,265 miles and visited 175 cities in 46 countries.

According to Billboard Boxscore, the tour sold 8.9 million tickets and grossed $776.2 million.

During his final hometown show in Ipswich, England, on Monday, Sheeran reportedly told the crowd it probably would be his last gig for 18 months. He later shared an Instagram story clarifying that the time span would be used "to make another album and hang out with my cats."