According to the Pay Per Play report by Broadband Deals, Spotify pay artists an estimated £0.0034p for every stream on the platform and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’ is the most played song.
The 28 year old, originally from Suffolk released the song in 2017 on his album ÷, he tops the Pay Per Play list, with 2.3 billion streams, earning the artist just over £7 million from the popular hit.
Drake's ‘One Dance’ is the second most streamed song with over 1.7 billion plays earning just under £6 million since it was released in 2016.
While Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ which was released in 2017 came third with 1.7 billion streams and £5.8 million in royalties.
Four of Sheeran's tracks make the top 100 most streamed on Spotify, and collectively 'Shape of You', 'Thinking Out Loud', 'Perfect' and 'Photograph' have had 6.1 billion plays, and earned an estimated £21 million.
Including collaborations Only Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Drake appear more frequently in the top 100 most streamed, with Bieber appearing 7 times, Post Malone 6, and Drake 5.
While those at the top of Spotify's most played are raking in the millions, it's a different story for smaller artists and indie bands.
A band from the Midlands who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions from Spotify or their record label said “In our whole career we’ve made £10 from Spotify, for a band on an indie label the money isn’t even something to consider, but it’s necessary to be on it for awareness as everyone uses Spotify.”
To date, their most played song on Spotify has racked up nearly 200,000 plays.
