Ed Sheeran has been named as the most-played pop act in the UK for 2015. He has topped the Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) People’s Chart, which was released today, and is based on TV and radio airplay, song use in adverts and plays in public venues such as nightclubs.
The singer, who is currently on hiatus, came third in the chart last year but this time beat Taylor Swift and Olly Murs to take the top spot. Take That and Ellie Goulding make up the rest of the top five.
A PPL spokesman said that Ed’s success was largely due to the “broadcast and public use” of ‘Thinking Out Loud’, ‘Photograph’ and ‘Bloodstream’, his collaboration with Rudimental.
In fact, Ed’s songs ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Photograph’ are the sixth and 17th most played tracks of 2015 respectively, however, unsurprisingly the top spot went to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ monster hit ‘Uptown Funk’. The global smash hit beat Ellie Goulding’s ‘Love Me Like You Do’ and James Bay’s ‘Hold Back The River’ to take the title.
Check out the top twenty most-played artists and songs of 2015 below.
Most-played artists of 2015
- Ed Sheeran
- Taylor Swift
- Olly Murs
- Take That
- Ellie Goulding
- Sam Smith
- Jess Glynne
- Years & Years
- Mark Ronson
- Maroon 5
- Coldplay
- Calvin Harris
- James Bay
- George Ezra
- Madonna
- Rihanna
- Queen
- Michael Jackson
- Katy Perry
- Adele
Most-played tracks of 2015
- ‘Uptown Funk’ – Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
- ‘Love Me Like You Do’ – Ellie Goulding
- ‘Hold Back The River’ – James Bay
- ‘King’ – Years & Years
- ‘Hold My Hand’ – Jess Glynne
- ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – Ed Sheeran
- ‘Sugar’ – Maroon 5
- ‘Want To Want Me’ – Jason Derulo
- ‘Up’ – Olly Murs feat. Demi Lovato
- ‘Style’ – Taylor Swift
- ‘Like I Can’ – Sam Smith
- ‘These Days’ – Take That
- ‘Cheerleader’ (Felix Jaehn Remix) – OMI
- ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ – Jess Glynne
- ‘Take Me To Church’ – Hozier
- ‘Shut Up and Dance’ – Walk The Moon
- ‘Photograph’ – Ed Sheeran
- ‘Black Magic’ – Little Mix
- ‘Blame It on Me’ – George Ezra
- ‘Blank Space’ – Taylor Swift
Did your favourite artist or song make the list? Let us know by tweeting @CelebMix.