Ed Sheeran beats close competition Taylor Swift in impressive achievement

25 June 2024 , 15:51

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Ed Sheeran beats close competition Taylor Swift in impressive achievement

Ed Sheeran thanked everyone for their support after beating Taylor Swift as the most-played artist of 2023.

The Life Goes On singer, 33, became the most listened-to musician in the UK last year. He tops the list over his music playing across public spaces, radio and television. Carried out by music licensing company PPL, the study saw data collected across the country from January to December of last year.

He narrowly beat 34-year-old singer Taylor Swift, who recently finished the UK leg of her Eras Tour. In 2022, she was placed in the 10th position but rocketed to the top two thanks to her recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, and the previous announcement of the European leg of her popular tour.

Ed thanked everyone for their support after he learned of the achievement. He said: "Thank you for naming me the most-played artist for last year. Thank you to my team, not just for me, but for all the other artists you work with – I’m happy that you get this recognition."

Ed was the most-played artist of 2023 (Getty Images)

The singer beat the likes of Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images f)

Dua Lipa came in third place while Calvin Harris and David Guetta took up the fourth and fifth positions. Sir Elton John, Coldplay, Tom Grennan, Harry Styles and Madonna took the next five places. The three most-played songs included Miley Cyrus' Flowers, Ed Sheeran's Eyes Close and Lewis Capaldi's Forget Me.

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It comes after Taylor finished performing her third night at London's Wembley Arena. Halfway through her final performance, her boyfriend Travis Kelce surprised fans as she showed up on stage during her song I Can Do It With A Broken Heart wearing a tuxedo as he joined her dancers.

Swifties were left gobsmacked as thousands of screams could be heard but the news sent social media into a frenzy and those in the front few rows got to see something maybe the rest of us totally missed. Taylor is known for wearing red-bottom Louboutin's when she performs and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end got in on the act.

Travis' smart shoes also had a flash of red on the base too and it didn't escape everyone's attention. "Travis Kelce went on stage in front of 90k people in a pair of red bottoms. We might win four straight," wrote one fan on X, while another posted: "I don't think that's getting enough attention."

Although Taylor and Travis have been pictured together after confirming their romance, they have refrained from any sort of public displays of affection on social media until he showed up in her selfie with Prince William and his children over the weekend.

Zara Woodcock