Another ground breaking achievement for Ed Shearan.

He was the most streamed artist on Spotify last year, and now Ed Sheeran has hit a new record. He’s become the first British artist to reach two billion streams, and the second in Spotify’s history behind Eminem. Thinking Out Loud also dominates Spotify’s Sleep playlist and is the most streamed song in the US. Ed Sheeran has bucked the trend of other celebrities criticising Spotify, and even says he owes his career to it.

“All my fans started off file-sharing my music, so it’s a different generation,” says Ed Sheeran. ‘Great music can be successful on all formats’. Mark Mitchell, the General Manager of Atlantic Records UK, points out that Ed Sheeran’s made the achievement on two albums.

He says: “It highlights the popularity of his timeless sound and the explosive growth of his army of fans. It also demonstrates how great music can be successful on all formats.” Spotify also praises Ed Sheeran’s universal appeal.

Kevin Brown, Spotify’s head of label relations for Europe, said Ed had embraced the platform with his launch strategy for the album x (multiply). “Ed Sheeran is quite simply one of the best loved artists on Spotify globally, and we are thrilled that he has achieved this milestone. “That it continues to be enormously popular with our users almost a year later and is still winning new fans, is testament to the quality of the album and the enduring appeal of Ed as an artist.”