Ed Sheeran top streamed artist in New Zealand, Spotify announces

Ed Sheeran has taken the top spot for Kiwis listening to music streaming service Spotify. Photo / File

It's official, New Zealand loves Ed Sheeran.

That's if the latest Spotify figures are anything to go by.

The music streaming service is celebrating its fifth birthday in New Zealand, and has released its guide to streaming habits over the last five years.

The numbers show Kiwis' top streamed artist is Ed Sheeran, with his 2014 album X also coming in as runner up for the most-streamed album of all time in New Zealand.

Sheeran missed out on taking out the spot for most-streamed album though - that spot belonged to Justin Bieber's 2015 album Purpose.

Four of Bieber's tracks - Sorry, Love Yourself, What Do You Mean and Cold Water (Major Lazer feat. Justin Bieber and MØ) - also made the Top Ten Most Streamed Tracks list proving New Zealand is still mad for Bieber.

Homegrown legends Six60 landed a top-ten placement in New Zealand's list of Top Streamed Artist. The five-piece band came in at number eight and their self-titled album came in as New Zealand's third Most Streamed Album of all time.

Other statistics released by Spotify show mobile is now the main platform for music streaming globally, with internal data showing 69 per cent of streams come from mobile. The number is 17 per cent up in the past year.

Spotify's data also shows streaming is highest during activities such as housework (with 53 per cent of users reporting to stream), cooking (42 per cent), or relaxing (55 per cent).

Recorded Music New Zealand wholesale figures show streaming generated more than $40 million in 2016, and is considered largely responsible for back-to-back years of major growth for New Zealand's music industry.

Spotify artist and label services manager Tom Mee said it was "exciting to look at how far we've come and all we've achieved in five years".

"We're particularly proud of the positive impact Spotify has had on the local music industry; driving significant revenues back to the industry, and helping to export more New Zealand music to the world than ever before ... a huge win for artists and music fans alike."