Ed Sheeran named UK’s most played artist of the year – again

Ed Sheeran, whose chart-topping victory is most likely due to his 2021 album =, pictured in June 2023. Photograph: Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock

For the sixth time in eight years, Ed Sheeran has been named the UK’s most played artist of the year by the music company Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL).

The figures for 2022 reflect the most-heard music in the UK in real terms: as well as streaming, radio and broadcast, the PPL licenses the use of recorded music in public places and public performance venues.