Ed Sheeran has been officially crowned the dominant force in the Official Chart’s streaming era. The singer’s 2017 album Divide and its lead single, Shape of You, have been named the biggest album and song since streams were first included in the chart ten years ago.
Divide famously shook up the Official Singles Chart upon its release in March 2017 when 16 songs from the album entered the Top 20, prompting a rule change that summer to limit entries to a maximum of three per artist. The album has amassed 4.26 million chart units from streaming-equivalent and pure sales, making it the most-streamed album of all time in the UK.
Shape of You, the lead single from Divide, tops the list of the biggest songs of the past decade, with 6.29 million chart units comprising 864,000 downloads and 627.27 million streams.
Sheeran’s accolades extend further, as he holds the second and third spots for the most-streamed songs of all time in the UK with Shape of You and Perfect, respectively. Additionally, he boasts eight of the Top 40 most-downloaded songs of the last decade and set a record for the biggest week of video streams ever with Bad Habits, which earned 8.79 million streams in seven days in July 2021.
Biggest Hits of the Official Chart Streaming Era Revealed
The Official Charts Company has revealed the superstars of the streaming era, showcasing the biggest hits in music over the past ten years.
Biggest Song of the Official Chart Streaming Era (Sales and Streams Combined)
Ed Sheeran – Shape of You: 6,291,000
Biggest Album of the Official Chart Streaming Era (Sales and Streams Combined)
Ed Sheeran – Divide: 4,263,000
Most Streamed Song of the Official Chart Streaming Era (Audio and Video Streams)
Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved: 697,500,000
Most Streamed Album of the Official Chart Streaming Era (Audio and Video Streams)
Ed Sheeran – Divide: 1,790,000
Most Streamed Video of the Official Chart Streaming Era
Pinkfong – Baby Shark: 271,968,000
Best-Selling Song of the Official Chart Streaming Era (Downloads and Physical Sales)
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk: 1,700,000
Best-Selling Album of the Official Chart Streaming Era (Downloads and Physical Sales)
Adele – 25: 3,391,000
Most UK Total Streams in a Week (Audio and Video Streams)
Adele – Easy On Me (Week 42, 2022): 24,000,000
Most UK Video Streams in a Week (Video Streams Only)
Ed Sheeran – Bad Habits (Week 26, 2021): 8,792,000
Most Downloaded Single of the Official Chart Streaming Era
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk: 1,698,000
Total UK Streams Since Streaming was Included in the Official Chart
Audio streams: 1,081,037,500,000 (Since Week 27, 2014)
