Ed Sheeran has taken over from Eminem to become Spotify’s most streamed artist.

The Brit-winning singer’s music, which includes former number ones Thinking Out Loud and Sing, has notched up more than three billion plays, and over 59 million listeners, since the service started in 2008.

As rapper Eminem drops to the second spot, Drake, David Guetta and Rihanna fill up the top five most played artists of all time on Spotify.

Eminem
Eminem (Evan Agostini/Invision)

Ed – who released his debut + in 2011 and its follow-up x in 2014 – is also the most streamed artist in the UK this year, but lost the title of the year’s most streamed artist to Canadian rapper Drake, who accrued more than 1.8 billion streams and 46 million listeners over the past 12 months.

The 24-year-old from Suffolk was the only UK artist in the top five of Spotify’s Year In Music global list, where he came second and was followed by Canadian producer The Weeknd, Maroon 5 and Kanye West.

However, Ed topped the UK list, coming ahead of The Weeknd, Drake, Sam Smith and Kanye.

Rihanna
Rihanna (Rich Fury/Invision)

Rihanna was the most streamed female of the year, worldwide and in the UK, with more than one billion plays and 57 million listeners this year, where she beat singers such as Ellie Goulding, Ariana Grande, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj.

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, who dominates this week’s UK singles charts with three tracks in the top five, smashed the record for the most listens in a single day of all time with 36 million streams on November 13, when he unveiled his fourth album, Purpose.

Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber (Jordan Strauss/Invision)

Purpose also broke the record for the highest album streams in a week, with more than 205 million plays, but The Weeknd’s third album, Beauty Behind The Madness, stole the title for the most streamed album of 2015.

The Weeknd’s Abel Makkonen Tesfaye said: “It’s been an insane year working with some really talented people. Thank you to the fans on Spotify for making Beauty Behind The Madness the most streamed album of 2015.”

Lean On, by producing duo Major Lazer, was the most played song of all time and of 2015, notching up more than 540 million listens.

Diplo and Switch, the producers behind the group, said: “One Love, One Lazer!! Thanks to you: our friends, fam and global squad, Lean On is the world’s most streamed track!!”