Streaming Masters – Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran is the most successful male artist in recent years, partly thanks to his album Divide released four years ago. How huge are his figures on streaming platforms?
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Ed Sheeran streaming review – the method
Streaming is made up of audio and video streams. Our CSPC methodology now includes both to better reflect the real popularity of each track. The main source of data for each avenue is respectively Spotify and YouTube.
To factor in the growing impact of multiple Asian countries where these platforms aren’t always the go-to site for music streaming, more sources have been added.
In order to account for their real popularity in each relevant country, the below sources have been used along with the mentioned ratios that reflect the market share of each area.
Audio Streams
– South Korea : Genie streams * 3.05 (consistent with Gaon streaming numbers)
– Japan : AWA streams * 100/5.5 (AWA has 5.5% of the Japanese streaming market)– Elsewhere : Spotify streams * (370 – 8.5 – 9.5 – 33 – 9) / 207 (370 million global subscribers minus 8.5 million from South Korea minus 9.5 million from Japan minus 33 million from China divided by the number of Spotify only users minus 9 million more Asian users) + Genie streams * 3.05 (uses Genie rather than Spotify to extrapolate markets like Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam)
Video Streams– China* : QQ video streams * 50 if the song is available for audio stream, QQ video streams * 5 elseway (scale built based on known figures for several major artists)– Elsewhere : Youtube views
*since 96.4% of Chinese streaming platforms are free users, that paid-for users pay less than $2 a month and that they are also used as video streaming platforms, their streams are weighted on par with YouTube streams.
Audio Stream value – 1500 plays equal 1 album unit
Video Stream value – 11,750 views equal 1 album unit
Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = ( Spotify * 310/207 + Genie * 3.05*2 + AWA * 100/5.5 ) / 1500 + ( QQ views* 50(or 5) + YouTube ) / 11750
Ed Sheeran streaming review – the results
Total: 38,981,879 EAS
Ed Sheeran most streamed tracks (EAS)
1. Shape of You [÷ (Divide)] – 4,785,000
2. Perfect [÷ (Divide)] – 3,348,000
3. Thinking Out Loud [x (Multiply)] – 2,454,000
4. Photograph [x (Multiply)] – 2,089,000
5. I Don’t Care [No.6 Collaborations Project] – 1,770,000
6. Castle on the Hill [÷ (Divide)] – 1,273,000
7. Beautiful People [No.6 Collaborations Project] – 1,210,000
8. Galway Girl [÷ (Divide)] – 1,199,000
9. Happier [÷ (Divide)] – 1,156,000
10. I See Fire [x (Multiply)] – 881,000
11. The A Team [+ (Plus)] – 811,000
12. Bad Habits [ = (Equals)] – 778,000
13. River [Features] – 720,000
14. South of the Border [No.6 Collaborations Project] – 711,000
15. Don’t [x (Multiply)] – 691,000
16. Dive [÷ (Divide)] – 585,000
17. Supermarket Flowers [÷ (Divide)] – 576,000
18. Tenerife Sea [x (Multiply)] – 519,000
19. Sing [x (Multiply)] – 513,000
20. Give Me Love [+ (Plus)] – 503,000
Sources: Spotify, YouTube, AWA (app), QQ, Genie.