Ed Sheeran‘ becomes the first British artist to receive a Gold BRIT Billion Award. The Golden trophy is given to artist who have surpassed for 10 billion streams in the U.K.
The award was presented to the Shape Of You singer by the Brit Awards on October 4, 2023.
He accepted the award with a video on social media saying, “hey guys, Ed here, I just been given by Brit ten billion awards, thank you got all the streams. I love being British.”
The news comes as Ed released his 7th consecutive No. 1 U.K. album ‘Autumn Variations‘, on September 29 plus the live version of the album recorded in fans’ living rooms.
‘Autumn Variations’ deviates from Ed’s previous mathematical symbol titles, and it is the first to be released on his own Gingerbread Man Record Label.
‘There’s no singles, no videos, it’s on my own label, so no pressure for anything. I just want you guys to have a soundtrack for autumn/fall that feels like a warm hug. I hope you love it. Lemme know what your fav songs are and i’ll see some of you this week at random pop ups we are doing. Love you all x,’ Ed Captioned.
The 14 track release follows Ed’s sixth studio album ‘Subtract’ which was released in May, along with a visual album on YouTube. He also introduced his own hot sauce, ‘Tingly Ted’s.’
His first independent release was ‘Spinning Man,’ in 2004, followed by ‘The Orange Room’ EP in 2005.
In 2022, Ed won Songwriter of the Year at The BRIT Awards and released ‘2Step’ remixes, including a version with Ukrainian band Antytila. He dropped a ‘Tour Edition’ of ‘=’ in May 2022 with additional tracks and collaborations.
Ed was chosen to close the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 and was named the most played artist of 2021 in the U.K. His hit song ‘Shape Of You’ achieved 10 x Platinum status in August.
