Ed Sheeran has been announced as the first British artist to receive a special-edition Gold BRIT Billion Award by the BPI.
The award celebrates Sheeran being the first British artist to surpass 10 billion career streams in the UK, as calculated by the Official Charts Company. Over one billion of those streams came in the last 12 months.
Sheeran was presented the award by musician, actor, presenter and host of the BRITs Red Carpet Treatment Podcast Jordan Stephens.
Sheeran has previously broken records including becoming the first artist to have four albums in the Official Albums Chart Top 10 for a year, and the first British solo artist to spend an entire year at No.1 across his catalogue on the Official Singles Chart.
He has racked up six UK No.1 albums, seven BRIT awards, 14 UK No.1 singles, and currently holds three of the 10 most-streamed songs with Shape of You, Perfect and Bad Habits. His latest release, Autumn Variations, is Sheeran’s second album this year following the chart-topping record Subtract, released in May.
“It’s wonderful to receive the first-ever BRIT Billion Award in the UK for 10 billion streams,” said Sheeran. “I want to say a big thank you to my fans. None of this is possible without you guys.”
Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI chief executive, said: “We congratulate Ed Sheeran and his team on this landmark achievement. Ed may represent the pinnacle of streaming success, but he is also among the thousands of artists who are being streamed in the tens and hundreds of millions in the UK each year and who are thriving thanks to streaming and label support. We look forward to honouring many more artists, including future talent, with a BRIT Billion award.”
