Ed Sheeran’s ÷ hits 2 million in the UK

Ed Sheeran’s third studio album, ÷, has hit the 2 million mark in the United Kingdom – and returned to #1 after his successful appearance at the Glastonbury festival.

Official Charts Company confirmed that the album sold 2,000,985 copies since its release in March, with physical sales accounting for 1,215,636 of these units.

Permanent downloads and album streams contributed 370,099 and 41,250 copies respectively.

The album hit its first UK million just two weeks after release – 671,542 copies of that occurring within its first week – and now becomes the fastest-selling record by a male solo artist of all time.

Sheeran was a smash at Glastonbury, drawing a crowd of 100,000 and setting a new viewing record with the BBC telecast. He had the highest average audience of 2.9 million and a peak of 4.1 million.

As a result of his live appearance, ÷ jumped back to top spot from #2, marking its twelfth week on the summit and forcing Glastonbury headliners Radiohead’s 20th anniversary reissue of OK Computer to make its debut at #2.

The festival appearance also saw a new boost in chart activity for Sheeran’s first two albums.

The three-year-old x, which is 10x platinum in the UK, moved up seven places to #12. His 2011 debut +, which has achieved an incredible 7x platinum certification, jumped 21 spots to #21.

Most of the Glastonbury acts – including Stormzy, Royal Blood and The xx – saw positive upswings the week after.

But it was Foo Fighters’ Greatest Hits that had the largest response, vaulting from #45 to #6 position – two spots shy of the #4 position it debuted at in November 2009.