= (Equals)

= (Equals) is the fourth studio album by Ed Sheeran, released in October 2021 on Asylum/Atlantic Records and produced by Steve Mac, Benny Blanco, Johnny McDaid, and others. It was the first album written following the birth of Sheeran's daughter and the death of his best friend Jamal Edwards, giving it the most explicitly personal biographical context of any Sheeran studio album. Sheeran wrote or co-wrote all material; 'Bad Habits,' 'Shivers,' 'Overpass Graffiti,' and 'The Joker and the Queen' were the principal singles. 'Bad Habits' debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100; the album debuted at number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200. = has been certified multi-platinum in the United States and received positive reviews that noted the biographical weight behind the material while some critics observed that the production approach had become formulaic across multiple albums. The album's autobiographical context, written in response to the joy of fatherhood and the grief of losing his closest friend, gives it an emotional weight that distinguishes it from the more polished but less personally specific material of Divide, and its commercial performance confirms that Sheeran's audience remains committed to his evolution as a songwriter beyond the formulaic pop of his most broadly commercial singles.