Ed Sheeran has one of the most recognizable celebrity tattoo collections in music. His body is covered with colorful designs, small symbols, lettering, memorial pieces, travel references, and tattoos connected to major moments in his career.
So, how many tattoos does Ed Sheeran have?
More than 60 individual tattoos have been reported over the years, but there is no confirmed current total. Sheeran himself does not appear particularly interested in counting them. During a 2024 GQ tattoo tour, he explained that he thinks of the artwork covering his body as essentially one large tattoo.
What makes Ed Sheeran’s tattoos interesting is not simply how many he has. Many tell a specific story about his music, family, friendships, travels, achievements, or memories.
From the huge lion across his chest to a tiny bunny drawn by his daughter, here are the stories behind some of Ed Sheeran’s most famous tattoos.
How Many Tattoos Does Ed Sheeran Have?
Ed Sheeran is widely reported to have more than 60 tattoos, although an exact number has never been publicly confirmed.
Counting them is also difficult because many individual designs have gradually become part of larger tattooed areas.
In his 2024 GQ tattoo tour, Sheeran explained that he does not really count them individually and instead views the collection as one tattoo.
His body art includes everything from large colorful pieces to tiny symbols, words, characters, album references, friendship tattoos, memorials, and designs connected to places he has visited.
Rather than following one carefully planned visual theme, his collection has developed alongside his life.
What Do Ed Sheeran’s Tattoos Mean?
There is no single meaning behind Ed Sheeran’s tattoos.
Many of them represent specific experiences or people that have mattered to him.
Common themes throughout his collection include:
- Music and albums
- Career achievements
- Family
- Friends
- Travel
- Important performances
- Personal jokes
- Childhood memories
- People who influenced his life
- Memorials
That is part of what makes his collection distinctive.
Instead of choosing every tattoo because it matches the previous one stylistically, Sheeran has often used tattoos as permanent reminders of individual moments.
Ed Sheeran’s Lion Tattoo and Its Meaning
One of Ed Sheeran’s most recognizable tattoos is the enormous colorful lion covering much of his chest.
The tattoo represents a major milestone in his career: performing three sold-out shows at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2015.
Sheeran has explained that Wembley is strongly connected with English football and that England’s football identity is associated with the Three Lions.
For him, performing at Wembley represented one of the biggest achievements of his career, so the lion became a permanent reminder of that moment.
The tattoo is a good example of how a familiar image can become deeply personal when it represents a specific achievement.
Is Ed Sheeran’s “Galway Grill” Tattoo Real?
Yes. The “Galway Grill” tattoo is real, and the unusual wording was intentional.
While making the music video for “Galway Girl,” Sheeran had actress Saoirse Ronan tattoo handwriting onto his arm.
Instead of the expected words “Galway Girl,” the tattoo says:
Galway Grill
The story was sometimes repeated as though Ronan had accidentally misspelled the title.
However, Sheeran later explained that the joke was planned.
That makes the tattoo less of a tattoo mistake and more of a permanent memory from making the music video.
It also demonstrates something that appears repeatedly throughout Sheeran’s collection: not every meaningful tattoo has to be serious.
Why Does Ed Sheeran Have a Heinz Ketchup Tattoo?
Ed Sheeran is famous for his love of Heinz ketchup, and the Heinz logo appears among his tattoos.
But there is more to the story than simply liking ketchup.
Sheeran has explained that some tattoos in his collection became connected with places he visited while touring.
In his GQ tattoo tour, he associated his Heinz tattoo with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the Heinz company was founded.
He described other travel-related designs as part of the same idea, including a koala connected with Australia and a “Prince” tattoo associated with Philadelphia and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
These tattoos turned places from his travels into permanent reminders of different periods of his career.
Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles’ Pingu Tattoos
Another well-known story involves Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, and Pingu, the animated penguin character.
Sheeran has a Pingu penguin tattoo.
According to Sheeran, he and Harry Styles got related tattoos together. Sheeran received the penguin image, while Styles got the word “Pingu.”
The design itself may appear humorous, but the story behind it makes it a friendship tattoo.
That is another recurring feature of Sheeran’s collection: relatively simple or funny images can represent particular people and moments in his life.
Ed Sheeran’s Tattoos Inspired by His Albums and Music
Music naturally appears throughout Ed Sheeran’s tattoo collection.
Some of the most recognizable references are the mathematical symbols associated with his albums:
- Plus (+)
- Multiply (×)
- Divide (÷)
- Subtract (−)
- Equals (=)
These symbols became an important part of Sheeran’s visual identity as his recording career developed.
His tattoo collection also contains references to touring, performances, musicians, songs, and different stages of his career.
Instead of separating his personal life from his music career, his tattoos often allow the two to overlap.
What Was Ed Sheeran’s First Tattoo?
Ed Sheeran’s first tattoo was a small paw print.
According to Sheeran, before getting the design tattooed permanently, he had been drawing the same paw print on himself with a permanent marker for several years.
He eventually had it tattooed in 2010.
At the time, he apparently expected it might be his only tattoo.
That prediction clearly did not last.
The small paw print eventually became the beginning of a collection that spread across much of his body.
Ed Sheeran’s Family Tattoos
Some of Sheeran’s most personal tattoos are connected with his family.
He has revealed that his children’s footprints are tattooed on his back.
He also has a small bunny based on a drawing made by one of his daughters.
During his 2024 GQ tattoo tour, Sheeran identified the bunny as one of his favorite tattoos.
That is significant because it is not one of the biggest, most technically complicated, or most visually dramatic pieces on his body.
Its importance comes from who created the original drawing and what it represents to him.
It is a good reminder that the emotional value of a tattoo has very little to do with its physical size.
Ed Sheeran’s Memorial Tattoos
Sheeran’s body art also includes tattoos connected with people he has lost.
Among them are memorial references associated with Jamal Edwards, the British music entrepreneur and SBTV founder who played an important role in Sheeran’s early career.
Memorial tattoos can take many forms.
Some people choose portraits or names, while others prefer handwriting, symbols, dates, objects, or imagery that only they fully understand.
Sheeran’s collection demonstrates how body art can become a permanent way of carrying memories of important people.
What Tattoo Style Does Ed Sheeran Have?
Ed Sheeran’s tattoos do not fit neatly into one tattoo style.
His collection is intentionally eclectic and includes:
- Bright color
- Illustrative designs
- Lettering
- Small symbols
- Characters
- Large statement pieces
- Album references
- Humorous designs
- Sentimental tattoos
- Memorial pieces
This is very different from someone building a full body collection entirely around one style, such as Japanese, black-and-gray realism, traditional, fine line, or geometric tattooing.
Sheeran’s collection is connected more strongly by personal meaning than by a single visual style.
That is why individual tattoos that might seem unrelated visually can still make sense together as a record of one person’s life.
Why Are Ed Sheeran’s Tattoos So Colorful?
Color is one of the most recognizable characteristics of Ed Sheeran’s body art.
Rather than limiting his collection to black-and-gray tattoos, many of his larger and smaller pieces use bright colors.
Combined with cartoon characters, symbols, words, illustrations, and personal references, the color contributes to the scrapbook-like appearance of his tattoo collection.
The result is not intended to resemble one perfectly uniform body suit.
It looks more like a visual diary that has expanded as new experiences have been added.
Which Ed Sheeran Tattoo Is His Favorite?
During his 2024 GQ tattoo tour, Sheeran highlighted a small bunny based on a drawing by his daughter as a favorite.
This is interesting because his collection contains much larger and more recognizable tattoos, including the famous chest lion.
But favorite tattoos are not necessarily the most technically elaborate or visually impressive.
A very simple design can become someone’s most important tattoo because of the person, memory, or moment behind it.
Should You Copy an Ed Sheeran Tattoo?
Ed Sheeran’s tattoos can provide inspiration, but copying one exactly will not give it the same meaning.
His Wembley lion works because it represents a specific achievement in his own life.
The Pingu tattoo connects to a friendship.
His children’s footprints and daughter’s bunny represent his family.
The mathematical symbols connect directly with his albums and music career.
Instead of asking, “Which Ed Sheeran tattoo should I copy?” a better question may be:
What experience in my own life deserves its own tattoo?
You could take inspiration from the idea behind his tattoos and turn your own music, travel, family, friendships, achievements, memories, or personal jokes into an original design.
Turning Personal Memories Into an Original Tattoo
A meaningful tattoo does not require you to arrive at the studio with finished artwork.
You might only have a story, person, place, achievement, photograph, handwritten note, song, symbol, or memory that you want represented.
A professional tattoo artist can help turn that starting point into a design that works on the body.
At California Ink Tattoo in Bangkok and Phuket, our artists work with clients to understand the idea first and then develop the design around the preferred style, placement, size, and level of detail.
Whether you visit our Bangkok tattoo studio or Phuket tattoo studio, the process starts with understanding what you want your tattoo to represent.
Our tattoo artists can then help develop that idea into an original design that works with your body, preferred placement, and tattoo style.
The artist may recommend changes to improve composition, readability, placement, or how the tattoo will work on the body, but the final design should still represent the client’s idea.
Nothing should be tattooed until the client is completely happy with the design and placement.
That is ultimately the most useful lesson to take from Ed Sheeran’s tattoo collection.
Your tattoos do not need to tell someone else’s story.
They can tell yours.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ed Sheeran’s Tattoos
Does Ed Sheeran have tattoos?
Yes. Ed Sheeran has an extensive tattoo collection covering large areas of his arms, chest, back, and other parts of his body.
How many tattoos does Ed Sheeran have?
More than 60 individual tattoos have been reported, although there is no confirmed current total. Sheeran has said that he does not really count them individually and thinks of his body art more like one large tattoo.
What does Ed Sheeran’s lion tattoo mean?
The large lion on his chest commemorates his three sold-out Wembley Stadium performances in 2015, one of the major milestones of his career.
Is Ed Sheeran’s Galway Grill tattoo a mistake?
No. Although the story has sometimes been presented as an accidental misspelling of “Galway Girl,” Sheeran later explained that “Galway Grill” was intentional.
Did Saoirse Ronan tattoo Ed Sheeran?
Yes. Saoirse Ronan tattooed the “Galway Grill” wording on Sheeran while they were making the music video for “Galway Girl.”
Does Ed Sheeran have a Heinz tattoo?
Yes. Sheeran has a Heinz ketchup logo tattoo. He has connected it with Pittsburgh as part of a series of tattoos associated with places he visited while touring.
Did Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles get matching tattoos?
They got related Pingu tattoos. Sheeran received a tattoo of the animated penguin, while Harry Styles reportedly received the word “Pingu.”
What was Ed Sheeran’s first tattoo?
His first tattoo was a small paw print. Sheeran has said that he drew the design on himself with permanent marker for several years before eventually getting it tattooed.
Does Ed Sheeran have tattoos for his children?
Yes. He has his children’s footprints tattooed on his back and a small bunny based on a drawing by one of his daughters.
What is Ed Sheeran’s favorite tattoo?
In his 2024 GQ tattoo tour, Sheeran highlighted the small bunny based on his daughter’s drawing as a favorite.
What style are Ed Sheeran’s tattoos?
There is no single style. His collection combines colorful illustrations, lettering, symbols, characters, large pieces, humorous references, sentimental tattoos, and memorial designs.
More Than a Collection of Tattoos
Ed Sheeran’s tattoos are recognizable because there are so many of them, but their number is not really what makes the collection interesting.
The lion represents Wembley. The mathematical symbols follow his music career. Pingu represents friendship. His children’s footprints and daughter’s bunny represent family. Other designs preserve travel memories, jokes, important people, and moments from different stages of his life.
Taken together, they work almost like a visual diary.
And that may be the best idea to take from Ed Sheeran’s tattoos.
You do not need the same lion, symbols, characters, or words to create a meaningful tattoo.
The strongest starting point is your own story.
If you have a story, memory, achievement, or idea you would like to turn into a custom tattoo, talk with our team and we can help you develop it.