Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran continues to top the streaming song charts on Spotify both globally and here in the United States. Sheeran's "Shape of You" is the no. 1 song on both charts by a comfortable margin.
Ed Sheeran Rules Spotify Streaming Charts
It's been around six weeks since Ed Sheeran dropped two new songs and broke the Spotify record for most streams in a 24-hour period. On Jan. 13, Sheeran released "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill" from his upcoming album Divide, and both blew up immediately. Sheeran's record was particularly impressive in that each of the two songs managed to break the record individually, as music fans clamored for a taste of new music from the pop star.
Now, it appears as if "Shape of You," the more rhythmic and poppy sounding of the two tracks, is proving to be the most popular, as the song continues to rack up Spotify streams, besting all comers. Sheeran racked up over 11 million listens on U.S. Spotify in the past week, well ahead of the closest contender "Bad and Boujee (feat. Lil Uzi Vert)" by Migos, which managed over 8.5 million spins.
Globally, it was a trouncing, as "Shape of You" landed over 53 million streams to just around 30 million from second place "I Don't Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)" — From "Fifty Shades Darker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" by ZAYN, which garnered just around 30 million listens.
Sheeran Focused On Sales And Chart Performance
While the soft-spoken Sheeran, with his casual, unassuming appearance, might seem like the type not to be concerned about sales and chart performance, that's not the case according to the artist himself, who actually takes a keen interest in such things.
"I have a data sheet emailed to me every week", the singer explained. "What's the problem with doing it? It's so fun. You're not going to have success by working just for the love of it. Looking at a sales sheet you can see where you need to do that work. My benchmark for the second album was Coldplay. This album it Springsteen. I'm obsessed with how his career spans constantly doing stadiums and putting out work that is centre but left of centre. I bet he cared about stats and figures as well."
Other Chart Moves
In other Spotify chart moves, "It Ain't Me (with Selena Gomez)" by EDM artist and DJ Kygo is shaping up to be a big hit, as it makes an impressive no. 3 showing in both the U.S. and global charts. Ironically, Kygo helped pioneer the tropical house sound that is featured prominently in Sheeran's "Shape of You." Katy Perry's recent release, "Chained To The Rhythm" is performing decently but unremarkably so far, with a no. 15 showing on the U.S. charts and a somewhat better no. 7 placing globally.
