Can you believe what Ed Sheeran earned last year?

Ed Sheeran performs a secret show in the woods at Latitude 2015 - Paul Bayfield (Image: Timesniper.com)

For according to the US financial website Forbes, the singer earned himself £27.8m last year.

'The 25-year-old Brit bagged two Grammy wins for his single Thinking Out Loud from his studio album x, which has shifted 2.6 million copies since its 2014 release,' it says.

'The singer-songwriter also rakes in millions from co-writing hits such as Justin Bieber's Love Yourself and recently started his own aptly named label, Gingerbread Man.'

Sheeran, who grew up in Framlingham, ranks 82 in Forbes's top 100 celebrity earners. Taylor Swift, who it says earned $170m last year comes top.

Ed Sheeran. Picture Jay Cain. (Image: Jay Cain Photography)

Sheeran's bulging bank balance is a far cry from the early days of his career, when he sometimes had to sleep rough or sofa surf after gigs when he was broke.

He has recently spent some of his hard-earned on putting out drive safe signs across Suffolk in a nod to a lyric from his hit song Castle on the Hill.

Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk's Breakfast Show this morning, he said that he would not change the lyric 'driving at ninety down those country lanes' from the song despite the criticism it has attracted from police.

'I am not encouraging speeding at all, I am just singing it in a song,' he said.

A road safety poster in Ranelagh Road, Ipswich, based on the design of Ed Sheeran's new album cover. Picture: Gemma Mitchell (Image: Archant)

'Nobody goes on at Jimi Hendrix for saying 90 miles-per-hour is the speed I drive [in Crosstown Traffic] and he actually says miles-per-hour is the speed I drive.'

In reference to the controversy, he revealed his marketing budget allowed for some promotion in Suffolk, with road safety posters going up to promote the album and playfully reference the speeding lyric.

One such poster has already appeared on a bus stop in Ranelagh Road, Ipswich.

'I wanted to do some sort of billboard in Suffolk and then we thought it would be quite funny instead of actually putting up billboards saying the album is out, just having a blue sign that says drive safe,' he said.