LOS ANGELES: English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran dominated Spotify in 2017, with his latest album “Divide” played 3.1 billion times worldwide, the leading streaming service said Tuesday. Despite Sheeran’s triumph, the Swedish-based streaming service said the larger trends of 2017 included hip-hop, with streams growing 74 per cent over an already large base in 2016. Hip-hop star Drake came in second on Spotify in 2017 and rapper Kendrick Lamar was fourth, with R&B singer The Weeknd, a protege of Drake, placing third. Sheeran, 26, has seized on the rapid growth of streaming during his rise to pop fame. His success on Spotify, however, did not help him at the Grammys, with Sheeran shut out of major categories announced last week — a surprise to many watchers of the music industry’s top prizes.

Source: Pakistan Today December 06, 2017 08:26 UTC