Ed Sheeran delayed the release date of his new album to avoid being overshadowed by the contentious presidential election.

The Thinking Out Loud singer, 25, initially planned to drop his new music in September last year (16) ahead of releasing a new record in November (16).

However the world's focus on Donald Trump and his opponent Hillary Clinton's battle for the presidency caused Ed to scrap the planned release date for his his album, ÷ (Divide).

"The plan was to come (with the first singles) in September and then the album was meant to come in November (16) but the week the album was coming out was the week (of) the presidential elections, that was just a s*** storm of media and I was, like, obviously if I come out with a record then no one's going to care," he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio.

With a number of other big releases occurring in the weeks following Trump's electoral victory over Clinton, he decided to wait until the new year to unveil new material.

"Then the week after Bruno (Mars) came out, the week after The Weeknd came out," he said, adding, "It feels like a clean start this year though."

Ed released the singles Castle on the Hill and Shape of You from ÷ (Divide) earlier this month (Jan17), with the full record going on sale on 3 March (17).

Irish rockers U2 also scrapped their plans to release new album Songs of Experience due to the unexpected outcome of the bitter presidential election. They are now working on new songs that better reflect the political climate.