Ed Sheeran’s ‘X’ breaks records on Spotify

02 July 2014 - Press release

Today Spotify can reveal that Ed Sheeran’s new album, X, has smashed streaming records in its first week of release on Spotify.

Following the album’s release in the UK on Monday 23^rd June, Ed Sheeran’s ‘X’ was the most streamed album in the UK ever on Spotify in a single week, with 6,248,130 streams (beating Daft Punk’s existing record in the UK, with 6,181,583 streams with Random Access Memories).

Globally, ‘X’ scored the biggest ever ‘week one’ of album streams in Spotify history, with 23,792,476 streams, beating Eminem’s 22,780,154 streams of The Marshall Mathers LP 2 in November 2013.

 ‘X’ is currently at number 1 on the Official Charts Company’s album chart in the UK with 182,427 unit sales in its first week, making it the biggest-selling album of the year so far.

Kevin Brown, Spotify’s Head of Label Relations for Europe, added: “We're delighted to see the massive success of Ed's new album, not only on Spotify, but across all formats.

“The label rolled out an incredibly effective strategy, embracing Spotify from before release date.  They made seven tracks available prior to release - each triggering an automatic notification to Ed's 1.8 million fans on Spotify. The resulting spike in fan engagement right before release will in no small part have contributed to its runaway success in week one.”

Ed Sheeran also saw the biggest streaming boost of any artist following his Glastonbury performance in the UK this weekend, with a 195% increase in streams.