Maps of Music

+ (Plus) (2011)

Where the lyrics of + (Plus) take you, and where it was really made.

Ed Sheeran's debut studio album, which made him a commercial star, came after five EPs he had released himself, and it debuted at number one in the UK.

Key places

Sticky Studios, recording site (2011)

Recording site Sticky Studios — MusicBrainz links this album's recording to Sticky Studios, and the place is marked at town-level accuracy. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sarm East Studios, recording site (2011)

Recording site Sarm Studios (London) — MusicBrainz links this album's recording to Sarm East Studios, a London studio listed with a city-center coordinate. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Dean St. Studios, recording site (2011)

Recording site Good Earth Studios — MusicBrainz links this album's recording to Dean St. Studios in London, which also appears as a production location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• + (Plus): debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran
• Released 9 September 2011 by Asylum Records and Atlantic Records
• Considered Sheeran's commercial breakthrough
• Sheeran had released five EPs independently before this album
• Jake Gosling and Sheeran produced most of the album; American hip hop producer No I.D. added production
• Worldwide sales above 4 million copies

Background

• After finishing school at 16, Sheeran spent his student grant on rail tickets
• He moved from place to place, performing at open mic nights across the United Kingdom and sleeping on friends' sofas
• Four years of performing in the British live scene came before he met Jamie Foxx in Los Angeles
• In early 2010 he described having a "rough time" in the UK and left for Los Angeles for a month
• Foxx's contacts led to radio-show appearances and free studio time
• Sheeran's YouTube performance of "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" also drew a large audience
• He signed to Atlantic Records and joined the management team of Elton John, called Rocket
• He started playing acoustic guitar at 11
• Damien Rice was a larger influence on his music than The Beatles or Bob Dylan

Recording

• Sheeran knew how he wanted every song to sound, so each track took only about one day to record
• Tracks produced by Jake Gosling, with credits also for Guy Massey, Charlie Hugall and Rob Kinaelski as recording engineers
• "The City", "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" and "Sunburn" are re-recorded versions from the 2009 You Need Me EP
• "The A Team", "Little Bird", "Sofa" and "Homeless" first appeared on the 2010 Loose Change EP

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Edward Christopher Sheeran was born on 17 February 1991 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk.
• He began writing songs around the age of eleven and learned guitar at that age.
• He studied at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford before leaving to support Just Jack.
• He released the EP No.5 Collaborations Project independently in January 2011 and signed with Asylum Records the same year.

Career

• His debut album + (2011) topped the UK Albums Chart and featured the hit "The A Team".
• × (2014) won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year and was the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015.
• ÷ (2017) became the best-selling album worldwide of 2017, and he was named Global Recording Artist of the Year by the IFPI.
• He has sold 200 million records worldwide and has won four Grammy Awards.
• He founded the label Gingerbread Man Records and released albums including = (2021), − (2023) and Play (2025).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Reviews from music critics were generally positive
• Metacritic average of 67 from 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews"
• The Independent (Andy Gill): four stars out of five, praising Sheeran for following his own instincts instead of conforming to mainstream pop
• The Guardian (Alex Petridis): three stars out of five, calling the album "a pretty winsome business" at its worst and praising Sheeran's melodic ability
• AllMusic (Jon O'Brien): said Sheeran failed to capitalize on his unique selling point, with most tracks sounding like attempts to copy "The A Team"
• BBC Music (Natalie Shaw): a mixed response, calling the album at times "precocious" and "self-referencing" while praising "Drunk" and "Grade 8"
• Metro (John Lewis): a mixed review, saying Sheeran was at his best when he combined folk and rap
• NME (Emily Mackay): four out of ten, questioning his authenticity as a musician

Records

• UK Albums Chart: debuted at number one with first-week sales above 102,000 copies
• US Billboard 200: peaked at number five with 42,000 copies in its first week
• Highest debut for a British artist's first studio album in the US since Susan Boyle's 2009 album
• UK: certified Triple Platinum by the end of 2011, over 900,000 copies
• UK sales of 1,958,000 as of June 2015
• Australia: ARIA Triple Platinum, peaked at number one in 2012
• Ireland: placed in the top 10 for 8 consecutive years, 2011 to 2018
• New Zealand: debuted at number 34 and topped the chart 54 weeks later
• US: 1.21 million copies sold as of March 2017

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Foxx gave Sheeran his number and offered studio time free of charge after his radio-show performance.
• The album concludes with the Scottish folk song "The Parting Glass" as a bonus track.
• Digital Spy reported that the album still faced competition from Laura Marling's album A Creature I Don't Know in the UK chart race.
• After the album topped the chart, Sheeran tweeted his thanks and offered a free EP of three tracks.
• Sheeran's own YouTube performance of "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" drew over half a million views.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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