No matter how many times it plays on the radio, in your mom’s car, on the television or anywhere, Ed Sheeran’s 2017 hit, “Shape of You”, remains a classic favorite in the ears of fans and casual listeners.
“Shape of You” has become such a classic that it is the first song to ever reach 3 billion — yes, billion — streams on Spotify. On Tuesday (Dec. 21), Twitter accounts PopCrave and chart data tweeted out the announcement that the lead single off Ed Sheeran’s + album reached a new milestone since its release four years ago.
As this post is being written and published, the song is currently at 2,999,602,663 streams (and counting) on the streaming platform. Though it isn’t necessarily at the next nearest billionth at the moment, the streams for the song has increased by 1.5 million from yesterday’s report according to music news site Uproxx. Perhaps, by the end of today, or by the time you read this, the song has already reached its new record.
It’s been three years since Ed Sheeran last broke his own, and Spotify’s, record of having the first song to reach 2 billion streams on the platform. According to a report from Forbes, “Shape of You” took about six months to reach its first billion of streams while it remained within the top 5 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the same amount of time.
However, the song isn’t the only one reaching its next billionth milestone. His romantic rock tracks “Perfect” and “Thinking Out Loud” are on the cusp of reaching two billion streams as well. If and when both songs reach the new record, Ed Sheeran will become the only artist to have multiple songs with at least 2 billion spins.