Ed Sheeran Breaks Huge Spotify Record — You Won’t Believe How Many Streams One Song Has


U.K. singer Ed Sheeran has always been a favorite on the streaming platform Spotify. But as of this week, the songwriter may have taken the streaming crown, because he’s officially broken a record for the most streamed Spotify song of all time. His hit track “Thinking Out Loud” just surpassed 500 million streams.

Spotify recently revealed just how much Ed Sheeran is dominating the streaming service, having a spot in one in every four Spotify users’ playlists. Ed Sheeran isn’t quite the No. 1 streamed artist of all time–that honor goes to Eminem–but having been listened to 2.9 billion times, he’s working his way to the top. But in terms of singles, “Thinking Out Loud” takes the prize as the first track to reach half a billion streams.

Ed Sheeran at the Global Citizen Festival, by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Ed Sheeran at the Global Citizen Festival, by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Ed Sheeran briefly commented on the broken record, noting that the song’s success is probably due to its popular use in romantic situations.

“Chuffed to hear that ‘Thinking Out Loud’ has had half a billion plays on Spotify,” said Ed Sheeran. “Being the first artist to hit that milestone is amazing. Thanks to all the people who use this as a wedding song, soundtrack to a date, and as a way to woo someone into a netflix-and-chill situation.”

You can see the official Ed Sheeran music video for “Thinking Out Loud” below.

But is “Thinking Out Loud” really being streamed so frequently for use on dates and intimate moments with special someones? A previous report from the Inquisitr revealed that Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith share a common utility among Spotify users. Their songs are frequently sorted into playlists specially designed to put the listener to sleep. Three of the 20 most popular sleepy time songs on Spotify were written by Ed Sheeran. Read more here.

Despite the success of “Thinking Out Loud,” Ed Sheeran’s other songs aren’t listened to quite as much as The Weeknd and Calvin Harris, but the specially made “Sheerio Index” tracking his popularity across the globe reveals that 19 million Spotify users listen to Sheeran every single month; and most of those listeners are European. Ed Sheeran songs are most popular in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, while his homeland (the United Kingdom) appears fifth on the list. Surprisingly, North American Ed Sheeran fans weren’t numerous enough to even appear in the top 20.

Ed Sheeran popularity in Europe, courtesy of Spotify, OpenStreetMap and CartoDB
Ed Sheeran popularity in Europe, courtesy of Spotify, OpenStreetMap and CartoDB

Though the rapper Eminem is standing in the way of Ed Sheeran being the most streamed artist of all time, the U.K. singer probably doesn’t mind. Sheeran claims to be a huge Eminem fan, having memorized many of the artist’s faster raps in order to help him get over his debilitating childhood stutter. Read more about that here. Unfortunately, the singer still hasn’t met the rap icon. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Ed Sheeran revealed that he had an opportunity to meet Eminem, but missed out.

“There was an opportunity when I went to SNL with [producer] Rick Rubin. I said, ‘Will he know who I am?’ And Rick said, ‘Unless you’re an underground rapper from Detroit, he won’t.’ I really wanted to meet Jay Z, and I met him at the perfect point where he was aware [of who I was] so we could have a conversation rather than me just being the dude that takes a picture. So I’m going to wait for that with Eminem.”

Are you one of the 19 million Spotify users who listen to Ed Sheeran at least once every month?

[Image credit: Mark Sagliocco / Theo Wargo / Getty Images]

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