It's all over: After 40 million votes, 64 bands and 26 days, Ed Sheeran has won MTV's Musical March Madness tournament; and it wasn't even close.
The Sheerios carried their man to a blowout victory over Thirty Seconds To Mars in the 2013 title game, as Sheeran stormed to an early lead, and never relented. In the end, in a battle that saw nearly 90,000 votes cast, Sheeran took more than 63 percent of the tally, and, after a series of close victories — he barely edged out Paramore in the Elite 8, and snuck by Tokio Hotel in the Final Four — Ed's finally able to exhale ... and can bask in his first MMM title.
Sheeran is the fourth different artist to win the tournament in its four year history, following in the footsteps of last year's champs, Tokio Hotel, 2011 title-takers Green Day and ,link id="1635611">Coheed and Cambria, who won the inaugural tourney in 2010.
Congrats to Ed and his entire Sheerio army; when we launched this tournament last month, we didn't know how far his fans would take him, but, with each impressive victory — he truly faced the toughest road to the championship, besting perennial powerhouses like Muse and Evanescence in the early rounds, then running the Paramore/Tokio Hotel gambit just to make it to the title game — it became clear that Sheeran had a legitimate shot at winning it all. He got stronger with each successive round, and now, he's the last man standing. All hail the new champion ... and his fans, who proved that they're the baddest in the land.
And, yes, we're engraving Ed's name on the big gold trophy as you read this.
Enjoy your hard-fought victory for a few days, Ed, but remember, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Next year, there will be 63 bands gunning for you ... we suppose it's never too early to begin planning your title defense.
Share you congratulations to Ed Sheeran in the comments below!