Ed Sheeran breaks obsession with stats as Shape of You tops Apple Music Top 500 most-streamed songs

News.com.au

2 days ago

Ed Sheeran says he has finally kicked his bad habit of tracking his chart and streaming statistics, just as his 2017 global smash Shape of You topped Apple Music's top 500 most-streamed songs.
His mate Taylor Swift once called him a 'chart monger' because of his obsession with the music industry's numbers game.
It was well known at his record label branches around the world that the pop superstar kept tabs on the performance of each new release in every market.
Sheeran looked surprised when informed on the Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music 1 that Shape of You was the biggest song on the platform, which marked its 10th year with the epic countdown.
The songwriter thought it was The Weeknd's Blinding Lights.
That track is No.1 on rival streamer Spotify with almost five billion plays, with Sheeran's song at No.2 with almost 4.5 billion hits.
Apple Music does not publicly disclose their streaming numbers and Sheeran said not knowing 'keeps most artists sane.'
'I actually think that that's the way that it should be. I think numbers ruin (the) joy of music,' Sheeran said in his interview with Lowe.
'Some of my favourite albums on the other streaming service haven't got like many tens of millions of streams, but they're still my favourite albums.
'And for some reason you look at that and you go, 'Oh, it must not have done well.''
He claims to have broken his obsession with music stats when he released his Subtract album in 2023.
But he knows artists can't help themselves keeping up to date with their latest sales and streaming numbers.
Sheeran said the 'math' of the music business used to drive his career but no more.
'It definitely used to ... because I was never good at anything, I got mildly obsessed with it when I was like 'This is working for me!' But I think I've kind of gone full circle,' he told Lowe.
'I think releasing Subtract broke me out of it and I can now look back at all of it and be like that was a part of my life. Anyone that says that they haven't ever felt like that is lying.
'Everyone, even the most indie artists, they all want at some point to have a moment like that, of (big) numbers. It is a thing that everyone at some point in their life craves.'
Apple Music's top 500 once again highlights how streaming algorithms have strangled Aussie music over the past decade with just 13 songs by our artists making the countdown.
It is estimated just one per cent of the world's biggest pop and hip hop superstars generate 80 to 90 per cent of total streams.
Our top entry was the Kid Laroi with his Justin Bieber collaboration Stay at No.14, closely followed by Tones and I's stayer Dance Monkey at No.16.
Next in was Vance Joy and the indefatigable Riptide at No.185.
Homegrown rock heroes AC/DC made their first appearance in the countdown at No.245 with Thunderstruck and then again at No.308 with Back in Black.
Sia also enjoyed multiple entries with Cheap Thrills (feat. Sean Paul) at No.359, Titanium with David Guetta (No.390) and Chandelier (No.451).
The other Aussie songs to make the top 500 are Be Alright by Dean Lewis (No.282), Youngblood by 5 Seconds of Summer (No.311), Gotye and Kimbra's Somebody That I Used to Know (No. 416), The Less I Know The Better by Tame Impala (No. 463) and Astronaut In The Ocean by Masked Wolf(No.465).
Apple Music 10th anniversary most streamed songs
1 Shape of You, Ed Sheeran
2 Blinding Lights, The Weeknd
3 God's Plan, Drake
4 Sunflower, Post Malone, Swae Lee
5 rockstar (feat. 21 Savage), Post Malone
6 One Dance (feat. Wizkid & Kyla), Drake
7 SICKO MODE, Travis Scott
8 Perfect, Ed Sheeran
9 No Guidance (feat. Drake), Chris Brown
10 bad guy, Billie Eilish