Ed Sheeran breaks Spotify record for one-day streams

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ed Sheeran set a new record for one-day Spotify streams with both of his comeback singles last week, NME reports.

The Suffolk-based singer-songwriter returned on Friday (January 6) after a three-year hiatus with two new songs, ‘Shape Of You’ and ‘Castle On The Hill’. The singles will precede the release of his third album, entitled ‘÷’, which will arrive later in the year.

Both songs smashed the existing Spotify record for one-day streams, which was previously held by One Direction‘s song ‘Drag Me Down’, which pulled in 4,759,698 plays on July 31 2015. The boyband had previously broken the record held by rapper Wiz Khalifa, who had 4.26 million streams in 24 hours for his song ‘See You Again’ on April 17 2015.

‘Shape Of You’ is the new record holder, registering 6,868,642 in the 24 hours after its release early on Friday. ‘Castle On The Hill’ faired similarly numbers-wise, pulling in 6,168,395 streams. The stats have been compiled by Sheeran’s label, Warner Music, which more than show that there is a definite public appetite for Sheeran’s comeback.

Sheeran claimed last weekend, meanwhile, that producer Rick Rubin had told him that Kendrick Lamar didn’t have a ghostwriter.

Rubin’s knowledge of Kendrick‘s true lyrical prowess came from a story he was told by rapper Eminem, who invited Kendrick to the studio to prove his abilities on the mic.