You may have heard that Ed Sheeran was in Chicago this past weekend.
Perhaps it was because you saw video floating around social media of the famous musician slinging food at The Wiener Circle, an iconic hot dog joint on the north side.
Or, perhaps it was because you were one of the 73,000 people -- a record-breaking amount -- who attended the singer's Saturday show at Soldier Field.
According to officials, Saturday's Ed Sheeran's Chicago show broke Soldier Field's ticket sales record. And during the show, Sheeran claimed it was the "largest concert" that the stadium has ever seen.
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But plenty of Soldier Field shows have sold out, including recent tour stops by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. So what exactly makes Sheeran's show the stadium's "largest ever?"
It all has to do with where the stage is built.
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According to a spokesperson for the stadium, Sheeran's stage was built “in the round” -- in the middle of the field -- which allowed Soldier Field to sell "all tickets in the stadium as well as tickets on the floor."
"Most stages are built on the North end of the stadium where the 100 level seats are removable," the spokesperson said. "Because of this, we lose the all the North sections and parts of the flanking sides due to no visibility of the stage."
In these cases, the spokesperson added, the stadium's capacity of 63,500 people is limited to between 54,000-57,000, depending on how many suites and seats must be removed.
That's where the record-breaking number of 73,000 tickets sold comes in, the spokesperson said, adding that the claim of the "largest ever" refers to shows performed at the stadium after it was reconstructed in 2003.
So where does Sheeran's show stand in comparison to Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé's sold out concerts? According to stadium officials, a North endzone stage was constructed for both shows, and both events were sold out based on available seats.
For Swift's shows, the largest attendance was upwards of 61,000, the spokesperson said. For Beyoncé's show, the largest attendance was upwards of 55,000.
This story has been updated to clarify that the ticket record refers to all shows after Soldier Field's reconstruction in 2003.
