Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’ has grossed over £7 million in Spotify streaming royalties. According to the ‘Pay Per Play’ list from BroadbandDeals, Sheeran’s 2017 hit tops the list. Drake’s ‘One Dance’ follows closely behind in second with over £5 million, narrowly beating Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ in third.
The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s collaboration ‘Closer’ took fourth and Sheeran’s second track, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, took fifth.
Other artists featured in the top ten included a second from Drake with ‘God’s Plan’. Elsewhere, Camila Cabello and Young Thug, Luis Fonsi, Major Lazer, and Justin Bieber rounded off the top ten.
‘Shape Of You’ currently holds over 2.3 billion streams on Spotify. According to figures gathered from Digital Music News, Spotify dishes out £0.0034 for every listen. This is more than Napster, Amazon, and Youtube offer.
Sheeran further features on the list in the eleventh spot with ‘Perfect’, which has currently grossed a sum of £4.2 million.
In August 2019, Sheeran was blocked from receiving royalties on ‘Shape Of You’ following claims of “appropriating” music from others. The case has been postponed until 2020. High Court Documents show artist Sam Chroki made claims against Ed about the chorus of ‘Shape Of You’, and of it’s similarities to his own 2015 song, ‘Oh Why’.
In December, Ed Sheeran was announced by the Official Charts Company as the UK’s ‘Artist of The Decade’.
“Thank you to everyone who’s supported me over the past 10 years, especially my amazing fans. Here’s to the next 10!” Sheeran said. Spotify also announced recently that Sheeran was one of the most-streamed acts of the 2010s.
Chief executive of the Official Charts Company, Martin Talbot hailed his achievements as “genuinely remarkable”.
He further added. “Today, he is firmly established among the highest level of global music superstars.”
In November, Stormzy released his single, ‘Own It’, featuring Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran, lifted from ‘Heavy Is The Head’. The album was released on December 13.