His Thinking Out Loud hit smashed through the half a billion milestone over the weekend (10-11Oct15), and the Brit has thanked fans for getting him there in a new statement.

It reads: "Chuffed (very pleased) to hear that Thinking Out Loud has had half a billion plays on Spotify. Being the first artist to hit that milestone is amazing. Thanks to all the people who use this as a wedding song, soundtrack to a date, and as a way to woo someone into a Netflix-and-chill situation."

Sheeran, who was named the website's most streamed act of 2014, is featured on the playlists of one in four Spotify users and over 19 million people stream his music monthly, according to Billboard.com. That figure places him just behind The Weeknd and Calvin Harris on Spotify's most popular artist list.