Ed Sheeran's debut single, "The A Team," came out way back in 2011, but it's only now hit 1 billion streams — a milestone that Ed took to Instagram to celebrate.
"My very first single The A team just hit a billion streams. I wrote this song at 18 in 2009, I couldn’t fathom a million people hearing the song back then, let alone a billion," Ed wrote. "Thank you to everyone who’s streamed that song, and all my other billion streamers."
Ed's post features a clip of the new Spotify Billions Club episode where he gives a tour of his hometown and points out various points of interest, like the castle that inspired "Castle on the Hill," the tree under which he wrote "Galway Girl," his studio and his old high school, where he met his wife, Cherry.
Holding his Spotify billion-stream award for "The A Team," he says of the song, "I played this in empty rooms, and now I play it in stadiums. I think this is one of the most important things that I have now."
At one point, Ed orders some fish and chips and sits on a beach with all his billion-stream awards spread out in front of him. As has become tradition, he places the fish and chips into the bowl-shaped awards, using them as dishes.
"Seeing them all laid out is pretty mad, because it's been 15 years of work," he notes. "I'm really grateful that my music has traveled so far and I get sit here and eat fish and chips out of it."
Ed has 12 songs that have reached 1 billion streams or more.