Maps of Music

− (2023)

Where the lyrics of − take you, and where it was really made.

The title is a minus sign, but the streaming services list it with a plain hyphen-minus instead.

Place unknown

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− (Subtract): sixth studio album by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran
Released 5 May 2023 through Asylum and Atlantic Records
Mostly acoustic album, with production by Aaron Dessner on every track
Fred Again, Max Martin and Shellback joined Dessner to help produce lead single 'Eyes Closed'
'Boat' and 'Life Goes On' served as the second and third singles
Visual album: videos for twelve of the fourteen tracks premiered on the release date
The videos for 'Eyes Closed' and 'Boat' were released before the album
Follows Sheeran's previous album = (2021)
Final mathematical-themed album by Sheeran

Title, tracklist and release date announced on 1 March 2023 across all social media platforms
Mini European tour announced from 23 March to 2 April, timed to complement the lead single
Dessner is a member of the indie rock band the National and also produced Taylor Swift's Folklore and Evermore, both released in 2020
On 29 April 2023, Sheeran announced a series of private shows in North America as a mini tour for the album

Sheeran and Dessner wrote over thirty songs together during a month-long studio session
The session was cut down to the album's fourteen tracks

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.

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).

Metacritic: 65 out of 100, based on 14 critics' reviews, indicating a generally favourable reception
The Guardian (Alexis Petridis): called it easily his best ever album and an insular record without crowd-pleasing excess
The Guardian: praised the atmospheric, understated arrangements Dessner brought to the record
The Telegraph (Neil McCormick): gave it five out of five stars, calling it a fluid, emotional and atmospheric album of therapeutic self-healing
NME (Nick Levine): said it definitely feels different, doleful, downbeat and heartfelt, like a warm but cautious hug
Clash (Robin Murray): saw parallels with Taylor Swift's Folklore as too neat to miss, but found the results affecting and not free of schmaltz
Rolling Stone (Maura Johnston): described the album as deliberately arranged, with Sheeran's lyricism back in the spotlight
Exclaim!: listed the album cover as the 10th worst of the year
The Independent (Roisin O'Connor): called it a departure, of sorts, for the better, though the lyrics fall short
The Line of Best Fit (Steven Loftin): said it does not follow Sheeran's usual routine but does not fall far from the tree
The Observer (Kitty Empire): described it as a visceral record dealing with mental health in a coping-to-not-coping way
The New York Times (Jon Pareles): called the songs sturdy, even when Sheeran sings about fragile emotions

UK Albums Chart: debuted at number one, Sheeran's sixth UK number one, with 76,000 chart units
Physical sales made up 71% of the UK figure; it was the fastest-selling album of 2023 until then
US Billboard 200: debuted at number two with 112,000 album-equivalent units, including 81,000 pure sales
The US week was the 10th-largest sales week of 2023 for any album at the time
Canada: peaked at number two
Number one in Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland
Nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards

The album's actual title on streaming is a hyphen-minus, while the article uses a minus sign for legibility.
Producer Aaron Dessner also produced Taylor Swift's Folklore and Evermore, both released in 2020.
The fourteen-track album came out of a month-long session in which Sheeran and Dessner wrote more than thirty songs.
In the US, the first-week sales figure outdid any sales week of Sheeran's previous two albums.
Videos for twelve of the fourteen tracks premiered on the album's release date.