Ed Sheeran may have been shut out of the Grammys this year, but he can still point to the scoreboard and make a pretty good statistical claim that hes the most popular musical artist on the planet right now.
According to Spotify, Sheeran topped all other artists on the service with 6.3 billion streams overall, with his new album Divide being streamed 3.1 billion times, and his hit single Shape Of You a total of 1.4 billion times.While Divide hasnt enjoyed the critical acclaim of his previous releases, Shape Of You was unbelievably popular on streaming services and standard radio, effectively playing on every genres station imaginable other than country. Even hip hop radio started playing the dancehall remix to Shape of You. It was utterly unavoidable in 2017.Rounding out the Top 5 most streamed artists this year are Drake, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and The Chainsmokers. For female artists, Rihanna led the pack, followed by Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. It should be noted that Swift only recently added her catalogue to Spotify.Perhaps the biggest surprise to come out of Spotifys statistics is the No. 5 most streamed album of the yearPost Malones Stoney. Malones story requires a thinkpiece of its own, and its already inspired many, but his ascention from assumed one hit wonder to global phenomenon in 2017 is nothing short of amazing.
Here are the full charts, courtesy of Spotify:
Most Streamed Artists1. Ed Sheeran2. Drake3. The Weeknd4. Kendrick Lamar5. The ChainsmokersMost Streamed Albums1. "Divide" - Ed Sheeran2. "More Life" - Drake3. "DAMN." - Kendrick Lamar4. "Starboy" - The Weeknd5. "Stoney" - Post Malone