Edward Christopher Sheeran (/ˈʃɪərən/ SHEER-ən; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play No. 5 Collaborations Project. He signed with Asylum Records the same year.

Sheeran's debut album, + ("Plus"), was released in September 2011 and topped the UK Albums Chart. It contained his first hit single, "The A Team". In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. Sheeran's second studio album, × ("Multiply"), topped charts around the world upon its release in June 2014. It was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In the same year, × won Album of the Year at the 2015 Brit Awards, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. A single from ×, "Thinking Out Loud", earned him the 2016 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Sheeran's third album, ÷ ("Divide"), was released in March 2017 and was the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. The first two singles from the album, "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill", broke records in several countries by debuting in the top two positions on the charts. He also became the first artist to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week. By March 2017, Sheeran had accumulated ten top-10 singles from ÷ on the UK Singles Chart, breaking the record for most top-10 UK singles from one album. His fourth single from ÷, "Perfect", reached number one in the US, Australia, and the UK, where it became the Christmas number one in 2017. The world's best-selling artist of 2017, he was named the Global Recording Artist of the Year. Released in 2019, his fourth overall and first collaborative album, No.6 Collaborations Project, debuted at number one in most major markets, and spawned three UK number one singles, "I Don't Care", "Beautiful People", and "Take Me Back to London". His fifth studio album, = ("Equals"), topped the charts in most major markets in 2021. His sixth album, − ("Subtract"), was released on 5 May 2023, while his seventh album, Autumn Variations, was released on 29 September 2023 under his own record label, Gingerbread Man Records.

Sheeran has sold 200 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has 119 million RIAA-certified units in the US, and two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. In December 2019, the Official Charts Company named him its artist of the decade, with the most combined success in the UK album and singles charts in the 2010s. As of July 2024, he is the third most followed artist on Spotify. Several of his tours are amongst the most-attended concert tours, and his ÷ Tour became the highest-grossing of all time in August 2019. An alumnus of the National Youth Theatre in London, Sheeran's acting roles include appearing in the 2019 film Yesterday, playing himself. In 2025, Time magazine listed him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Edward Christopher Sheeran was born on 17 February 1991 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. His early childhood home was on Birchcliffe Road in nearby Hebden Bridge. His father, John, was a curator at Cartwright Hall in Bradford, and his mother, Imogen, worked at Manchester City Art Gallery. In December 1995, he moved with his family from Hebden Bridge to Framlingham in Suffolk, where he attended the independent Brandeston Hall preparatory school (now Framlingham College Prep School), and later Thomas Mills High School, also in Framlingham. He has an older brother named Matthew, who works as a composer.

Sheeran's parents, John and Imogen, are from London. His father is Irish, and Sheeran has stated that his father is from a "very large" Catholic family. John is an art curator and lecturer, and Imogen is a culture publicist turned jewellery designer. His parents ran Sheeran Lock, an independent art consultancy, from 1990 to 2010. Sheeran's grandfather was a Belfast Protestant who married a Catholic from the Republic of Ireland during a time of sectarian intolerance.

From a young age, Sheeran showed a strong inclination toward music. He sang at a local church choir at the age of four, learned how to play the guitar at age eleven, and began writing songs while at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. He also played the cello when he was younger. A 2004 school report described him as a "natural performer", and his classmates also voted him "most likely to be famous".

As a teenager, he was accepted into the National Youth Theatre in London. He successfully auditioned for Youth Music Theatre UK in 2007 and joined their production of Frankenstein – A New Musical in Plymouth. He later became a patron of Youth Music Theatre UK, now renamed British Youth Music Theatre, and of Access to Music, where he studied Artist Development. Sheeran is a second cousin of Northern Irish broadcaster Gordon Burns, who hosted the British game show The Krypton Factor.