Ed Sheeran has become the first British artist to score two billion Spotify streams.

The ‘Bloodstream’ hitmaker beat Calvin Harris to the milestone, with the Scottish DJ scoring one billion streams last September.

[related]In a statement, Kevin Brown, Spotify's Head of Label Relations for Europe, said: “Breaking the two billion streams barrier on Spotify is evidence – were it needed – of Ed Sheeran's enormous popularity among the 60 million music fans on the service.

"Ed Sheeran is quite simply one of the best-loved artists on Spotify globally, and we are thrilled that he has achieved this milestone."

His achievement means that the 24-year old is only the second artist to reach the feat, with Ed following Eminem by hitting the target.

The news comes after ‘Thinking Out Loud’ was named the most-streamed sleep song on Spotify, while Sheeranalso had six other tracks on the Top 20 list.