Acclaimed third album propels Ed Sheeran past 1bn YouTube views
Ed Sheeran has shattered the 1bn YouTube views milestone courtesy of the launch of his third album, propelling the artist into the rarefied upper echelons of video royalty.
Divide contains 16 music videos including the acclaimed ‘Castle on a Hill’ and ‘Shape of You’, to 14 newly released lyric videos that have cumulatively surpassed a billion views.
Such has been the clamour for Sheeran’s work that three million subscribers have piled onto Sheeran’s channel over the past two months alone – more than any other channel this year.
Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s new global head of music, commented: “Ed Sheeran is one of the biggest stars in the world and his new album is his best yet.
“For years, he’s paired his songs with consistently creative music videos, so it’s great to see fans rushing to YouTube to watch them and show support for his new album.”
Publisher Atlantic Records have poured fuel on these flames through the use of lyric videos, art tracks, live videos, premium and user-generated content.
Sheeran has also been smashing records on Spotify, setting a new record for first-day plays of an LP on the platform with 56.73m streams.