Ed Sheeran tops Spotify’s 2017 list with 6.3 billion streams

Ed Sheeran (Photo by Eva Rinaldi – Ed Sheeran, CC BY-SA 2.0)

NEW YORK — The Grammys may have dissed Ed Sheeran, but Spotify says he is the most streamed artist of the year.

The streaming service announced Tuesday that Sheeran tops its 2017 list with 6.3 billion streams. He also has Spotify’s biggest album of the year with “Divide,” streamed 3.1 billion times, and the top song with “Shape of You,” logging 1.4 billion streams.

Sheeran received two Grammy nominations last week, but was shut out of the major categories, including album, song and record of the year.

No female acts were in the Top 5 most streamed acts of the year: Sheeran is followed by Drake, The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar and The Chainsmokers. Rihanna is the most streamed female performer of the year, followed by Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez.

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” remix, co-starring Justin Bieber, was the second-most streamed song of the year. The original version of the song was ranked third.

Drake’s “More Life,” which he didn’t submit for consideration at the upcoming Grammy Awards, is the second-most streamed album of the year. Lamar’s “DAMN.,” The Weeknd’s “Starboy” and Post Malone’s “Stoney” round out the Top 5.

Spotify says hip-hop increased by 74 per cent in the last year, while Latin music jumped 110 per cent.