The 23-year-old has racked up more than 860 million streams on the service, beating Eminem and Coldplay, who came second and third respectively.

His latest album, x, which hit the million sales mark in the UK this week, was played 430 million times.

Katy Perry was the year's most streamed female artist, with Ariana Grande second and Lana Del Rey third.

The Dark Horse singer took the top spot from Rihanna, who held the position for the previous two years,

Spotify said that more than 50 million users listened to 7 billion hours of music in the whole of 2014.

The service's most listened-to track was Happy by Pharrell Williams, which had more than 260 million plays.

British act Clean Bandit were in second position for their song Rather Be while DJ Calvin Harris' came third, with Summer.

Here are some of Spotify's most-streamed charts

Most-played artists

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Eminem
3. Coldplay
4. Calvin Harris
5. Katy Perry

Most-played groups

1. Coldplay
2. Imagine Dragons
3. Maroon 5
4. OneRepublic
5. One Direction

Most-played songs

1. Happy - Pharrell Williams
2. Rather Be - Clean Bandit (feat. Jess Glynne)
3. Summer - Calvin Harris
4. Dark Horse - Katy Perry
5. All of Me - John Legend

Male artist

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Eminem
3. Calvin Harris
4. Avicii
5. David Guetta

Female artist

1. Katy Perry
2. Ariana Grande
3. Lana Del Rey
4. Beyonce
5. Lorde

Most-played albums

1. x - Ed Sheeran
2. In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith
3. The New Classic - Iggy Azalea
4. G I R L - Pharrell Williams
5. My Everything - Ariana Grande

Most-played artists (UK)

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Arctic Monkeys
3. Eminem
4. Sam Smith
5. Coldplay

Most-played songs (UK)

1. Rather Be - Clean Bandit (feat. Jess Glynne)
2. Happy - Pharrell Williams
3. Waves - Mr Probz
4. All of Me - John Legend
5. Stay With Me - Sam Smith

Most-played albums (UK)

1. x - Ed Sheeran
2. In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith
3. Wanted On Voyage - George Ezra
4. The New Classic - Iggy Azalea
5. G I R L - Pharrell Williams