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60 free Ed Sheeran trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Ed Sheeran went from busking London venues and sleeping on sofas to the highest-grossing concert tour ever staged, and this quiz covers the whole run. It takes in his Yorkshire birth and Suffolk upbringing, the grime EP that got him noticed, + and "The A Team", the × era of "Sing" and "Thinking Out Loud", the record-shredding ÷ with "Shape of You", "Castle on the Hill" and "Perfect", the collaborations album, =, − , Autumn Variations and 2025's Play. Expect the famous stories (the Game of Thrones cameo, the Heinz ketchup tattoo, the Grammy performance Elton John talked him into) alongside things only proper fans know: which TLC song earned writing credits on "Shape of You", who kept "Thinking Out Loud" off number one in America, the guitar tech job that started it all, and the pseudonym-free truth about the "Perfect" string section. Difficulty is marked on every question, from easy to expert. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles for Ed Sheeran, his albums, singles and tours, and each question shows its citation, so nothing here rests on a fan-site rumour.
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Q 01Ed Sheeran was born in 1991 in which West Yorkshire town?
Halifax
His first childhood home was in nearby Hebden Bridge; a 2018 poll still ranked him the fourth-greatest Yorkshireman ever.
Q 02Sheeran's family moved to Suffolk when he was four. Which market town does he consider home?
Framlingham
Its medieval castle inspired one of his biggest 2017 singles, and he later bought a farm nearby that the press nicknamed "Sheeranville".
Q 03Sheeran says seeing which guitarist play "Layla" at the 2002 Golden Jubilee concert made him take up guitar?
Eric Clapton
Two days later he bought a £30 black Stratocaster copy and spent a month trying to play that riff.
Q 04Sheeran was a guitar tech for which folk-hip-hop duo, known for "JCB Song", before opening for them in 2008?
Nizlopi
He has cited them alongside Eminem and a certain Liverpool foursome as his biggest influences.
Q 05Sheeran credits rapping along to which album with helping him overcome a childhood stutter?
The Marshall Mathers LP
Years later he guested on the same rapper's 2017 album Revival, calling him one of the reasons he started writing songs.
Q 06Which 'Let Her Go' singer has been Sheeran's friend since a shared Cambridge gig when Ed was 15?
Passenger
Sheeran started recording at 13 and self-released a collection called Spinning Man that year.
Q 07Which actor invited Sheeran to stay at his home after a 2010 performance at his LA club, The Foxxhole?
Jamie Foxx
It happened before Sheeran had a record deal; he was signed to Asylum in 2011.
Q 08Sheeran's 2011 breakthrough EP, No.5 Collaborations Project, featured artists from which UK scene?
Grime
With Wiley, Jme, Devlin and others aboard, it reached number 2 on iTunes with no label or promotion.
Q 09Which song was Sheeran's debut single and first hit?
The A Team
It entered the UK chart at number three, sold 801,000 copies in 2011 and beat Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" to an Ivor Novello Award.
Q 10Sheeran's debut album, released in September 2011, is titled with which mathematical symbol?
+ (Plus)
It debuted at number one in the UK on 102,000 sales and has since gone six times platinum there.
Q 11Which Harry Potter actor stars in the "Lego House" video as a play on his resemblance to Sheeran?
Rupert Grint
"Lego House" was the third single from his debut album and a top-ten hit in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.
Q 12Which Pink Floyd song did Sheeran cover at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics?
Wish You Were Here
Two months earlier he had played his debut single outside Buckingham Palace at the Diamond Jubilee concert.
Q 13Sheeran wrote "Little Things", a UK number one, for which boy band?
One Direction
He had already co-written "Moments" for their debut album a year earlier.
Q 21Unusually, Sheeran took the lead role in the "Thinking Out Loud" video doing what?
Performing a ballroom dance
It was the third single from × and his highest-charting song in North America until 2017.
Q 22A 2023 New York jury cleared Sheeran of copying which Marvin Gaye song in "Thinking Out Loud"?
Let's Get It On
The verdict was unanimous, and in 2025 the US Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, ending the dispute.
Q 23Sheeran wrote which Justin Bieber hit, having originally planned to put it on his own third album?
Love Yourself
He has said the track would have been scrapped if Bieber had not taken it.
Q 14Sheeran co-wrote and sang on which single from Taylor Swift's album Red?
Everything Has Changed
Swift reached out after hearing his music on tour in Australia in 2012; he then opened her Red Tour and got a scarlet "RED" tattoo.
Q 15Which star, whose company manages Ed Sheeran, performed with him at the 2013 Grammys?
Elton John
The pair later recorded the 2021 charity single "Merry Christmas" together.
Q 16Sheeran's 2013 song "I See Fire" plays over the end credits of which film?
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
It also appears on the deluxe edition of his second album.
Q 17Which single gave Sheeran his first UK number one in 2014?
Sing
Its funky sound was such a departure that the acoustic ballad "One" was rushed out to reassure fans.
Q 18Roughly how many songs did Sheeran write over three years for his second album, ×?
More than 120
The finished record featured production by Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams and Benny Blanco.
Q 19Which song kept "Thinking Out Loud" at number two on the US Hot 100 for eight weeks?
Uptown Funk
Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars held the top spot; the ballad still won Song of the Year at the 2016 Grammys.
Q 20Sheeran wrote "Thinking Out Loud" with which Wales-based songwriter, at 2 a.m. in his kitchen?
Amy Wadge
They finished it in about 20 minutes and it became the last song recorded for ×.
Q 24Sheeran said "Shape of You" was written with which singer in mind before he kept it for himself?
Rihanna
It was first pitched to Little Mix, then imagined as a duet with Rudimental, before the label boss talked him into keeping it.
Q 25The writers of which TLC song were given credits on "Shape of You" after fans noticed similarities?
No Scrubs
Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle and Kevin Briggs joined Sheeran, Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid on the credits.
Q 26In December 2018 "Shape of You" became the first song to reach how many streams on Spotify?
Two billion
By 2026 it had passed five billion, second only to "Blinding Lights".
Q 27Which song, released the same day as 'Shape of You', debuted at UK number two?
Castle on the Hill
Together the two singles racked up over 13 million Spotify streams in 24 hours.
Q 28÷ sold 672,000 copies in its first UK week, third-fastest ever behind Adele's 25 and which album?
Be Here Now by Oasis
It remains the fastest-selling album by a male solo artist in UK chart history.
Q 29Whose record of nine top-10 UK singles from one album did Sheeran break in 2017 with ten from ÷?
Calvin Harris
Almost the entire album charted at once because of streaming rules that were tightened soon afterwards.
Q 30Sheeran's "Perfect Duet", the 2017 UK Christmas number one, features which singer?
Beyoncé
A third version, "Perfect Symphony", followed two weeks later with an operatic tenor.