My Z News

King of Spotify: Ed Sheeran beat out these major artists to rule 2014

, , , , , , , , , ,

Ed-sheeran-spotify-king

Ed Sheeran performs at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show on Dec. 2 in London.
Image: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Ed Sheeran has won the world over, claiming the throne as Spotify‘s most-streamed artist this year, with 860 million listens in the 58 global markets where the service is available.

The English singer-songwriter held off stiff competition from Eminem, who is Spotify’s all-time most-popular musician, Coldplay, Calvin Harris and Katy Perry.

Perry, next year’s Super Bowl halftime show performer, dethroned Rihanna to become the top female. On Perry’s tail were Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, Beyoncé and Lorde.

Sheeran’s sophomore studio album, x, also earned the title of top-streamed album, with 430 million streams since debuting at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in June. He beat out Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea, Pharrell Williams and Grande.

Meanwhile, over on rival Rhapsody, Sheeran was absent from the service’s top global artists, as Eminem, Drake, Katy Perry, Beyoncé and Rihanna came out on top in 2014.

Musicians’ streaming stats have become more important than ever in terms of their success on Billboard charts. Billboard and Nielsen announced last month that they would alter the Billboard 200 albums chart to now include audio streaming data to rank the top albums, while also taking into account physical sales and paid downloads of albums and tracks.

However, streaming services are also embroiled in controversy over artist royalties.

Here’s a breakdown of the best of the best on Spotify:

Top five global artists

  • 1. Ed Sheeran

  • 2. Eminem

  • 3. Coldplay

  • 4. Calvin Harris

  • 5. Katy Perry

Top Five Global Males

  • 1. Ed Sheeran

  • 2. Eminem

  • 3. Calvin Harris

  • 4. Avicii

  • 5. David Guetta

Top five global females

  • 1. Katy Perry

  • 2. Ariana Grande

  • 3. Lana Del Rey

  • 4. Beyoncé

  • 5. Lorde

Top five global groups

  • 1. Coldplay

  • 2. Imagine Dragons

  • 3. Maroon 5

  • 4. OneRepublic

  • 5. One Direction

Top five global tracks

  • 1. “Happy” – Pharrell Williams

  • 2. “Rather Be” (feat. Jess Glynne) – Clean Bandit

  • 3. “Summer” – Calvin Harris

  • 4. “Dark Horse” – Katy Perry

  • 5. “All of Me” – John Legend

Top five global albums

  • 1. x – Ed Sheeran

  • 2. In The Lonely Hour – Sam Smith

  • 3. The New Classic – Iggy Azalea

  • 4. Girl – Pharrell Williams

  • 5. My Everything – Ariana Grande

Top five global viral tracks

  • 1. “Take Me To Church” – Hozier

  • 2. “Gooey” – Glass Animals

  • 3. “Ojos Color Sol” – Calle 13

  • 4. “Coffee” – Sylvan Esso

  • 5. “Hey Mami” – Sylvan

Most streamed artists in the U.S.

  • 1. Eminem

  • 2. Drake

  • 3. Kanye West

  • 4. Lana del Rey

  • 5. Ariana Grande

Most streamed tracks in the U.S.

  • 1. “Fancy” – Iggy Azalea

  • 2. “Dark Horse” – Katy Perry

  • 3. “Happy” – Pharrell Williams

  • 4. “Problem” – Ariana Grande

  • 5. “All of Me” – John Legend

Most streamed albums in the U.S.

  • 1. x – Ed Sheeran

  • 2. The New Classic – Iggy Azalea

  • 3. In The Lonely Hour – Sam Smith

  • 4. Native – OneRepublic

  • 5. My Everything – Ariana Grande

Top viral tracks in the U.S.

  • 1. “Take Me To Church” – Hozier

  • 2. “Gooey” – Glass Animals

  • 3. “Reflections” – MisterWives

  • 4. “Coffee” – Sylvan Esso

  • 5. “Say You’ll Be There” – MØ

BONUS: 35 Christmas songs to officially kick off the holidays

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.