Ed Sheeran Hopes to Achieve ‘George Strait’s Level’ of Touring Someday

"I want to do stadiums everywhere," he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. "Like George Strait's level."

Written by Lauren Laffer
Ed Sheeran Hopes to Achieve ‘George Strait’s Level’ of Touring Someday
Ed Sheeran, George Strait; Publicity Photos

He’s presumably one of the biggest male pop stars in the world currently, but there are still quite a few things that Ed Sheeran has on his to-do list to have fully “made it.” While he’ll soon embark on a two-year arena tour in support of his new album ÷ (pronounced Divide), the singer admits that he’d one day like to perform in stadiums every few years, much like country music royalty, George Strait.

“I want to do stadiums everywhere,” he told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “Like George Strait’s level – he tours every four years, does a couple of stadiums and then f***s off again.”

The Yorkshire, England native has never been shy about his admiration for country music, having spent much of 2013 with Taylor Swift on the Red Tour and co-writing the song “Everything Has Changed.” He also openly talked about Hunter Hayes as someone he admired for his lyrics and musicality.

“Country music is some of the best-written music in the world, so yeah, one day, I would keep my mind open to doing a country record… Hunter Hayes has some sick music,” Sheeran told Yahoo! in 2013. “There’s so much good country music out there.”

While Sheeran’s latest release isn’t dubbed country, ÷ has been making waves worldwide. The project broke streaming records on Spotify and is on track sell nearly 500,000 copies in its first week. The singer also announced a 48-date arena tour, which will kick off at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on June 29 and run through Oct. 6 when it closes at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Pre-sales are set to begin on Monday (March 13) at 10 a.m. local time and run through March 16 at 10 p.m. local time; general public tickets go on sale March 17 at 10 a.m. local.

Fans can purchase a copy of ÷ on iTunes now.