Johnny McDaid

Unlike most of the artists he works with, Johnny McDaid is unlikely to get mobbed if he walks down the street. Yet McDaid is one of the most successful songwriters of the modern era. A two-time Grammy-nominated, twice Ivor Novello-winning and 17-time BMI Award-winning writer, musician and producer, with 14 Diamond and over 600 Platinum certifications, McDaid’s songs have helped define the streaming age.

The statistics behind the songs McDaid has written with Ed Sheeran alone are staggering. “Shape of You” was the first song in history to reach two billion streams on Spotify, where it has since passed five billion. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks and the UK Singles Chart for 14, is RIAA-certified 13× Platinum, has 8.8 billion YouTube views and was named Apple Music’s most-streamed song of the decade.

“Photograph”, “Shivers” and “Bad Habits” aren’t far behind, with 3.5, 2.1 and two billion Spotify streams to date, respectively. “Supermarket Flowers”, from 2017’s ÷, has now passed 861 million Spotify streams, while the Play-era singles “Azizam” and “Sapphire” are already past 472 million Spotify streams and 391 million YouTube views, respectively — with “Sapphire” clocking 530 million views on TikTok.

However, McDaid’s work stretches far beyond his collaborations with Sheeran. Equally at home writing with rock bands, pop superstars, singer-songwriters, DJs and K-pop acts, McDaid is among the music industry’s most sought-after creative collaborators.

The musician from Derry has helped bring into the world some of the most recognisable songs of the past 15 years, with tracks recorded by artists as diverse as BTS, Biffy Clyro, P!nk, Robbie Williams, Alicia Keys, Lewis Capaldi, Jung Kook, Weezer, Shawn Mendes, David Guetta, Snow Patrol, Kelly Clarkson and countless others, streamed in their tens and hundreds of millions.

On Spotify, McDaid’s top ten songs have amassed nearly 19 billion streams between them, while six have passed one billion. Worldwide, his catalogue has contributed to more than 250 million record-equivalent units sold. His writing has reached Broadway too: two songs co-written with Alicia Keys — “The River” and “Authors of Forever” — feature in Hell’s Kitchen, the musical built on Keys’s songbook, which was the most-nominated show at the 2024 Tony Awards.

No matter who he’s working with, McDaid’s intuitive approach to collaborating with other artists enables him to draw something out of them that they might not even have realised they had inside, helping create songs that resonate and speak to literally billions of people across the planet. Not for nothing does his long-time friend and collaborator Foy Vance call McDaid “the song whisperer”, while Robbie Williams refers to him as “like a musical therapist”.

“He’s not afraid to be vulnerable. As a songwriting partner, that’s crucial,” reflects P!nk, with whom McDaid co-wrote “What About Us”, a song with over one billion Spotify streams, approximately eight million Shazams and over 500 million YouTube views. “He’s very giving and is willing to give you as much as you give. I just say these terrible things and he turns them into pure poetry.”

McDaid continues to create songs that define the musical landscape. As one third of Snow Patrol, he co-wrote the band’s 2024 UK number one album The Forest Is The Path. In 2026, he co-wrote both The Backstreet Boys’ “Bottle Up” and “Animal” for global phenomenon KATSEYE, a track that surpassed 10 million YouTube views within just two days of release and is currently hurtling past 315 million views on TikTok.

Yet despite being one of the most successful songwriters this century, McDaid retains a quiet pride in his achievements. For him, the magic lies in the space between him and his collaborators. That’s where the songs that truly connect are born.

“When I write with someone, we are both transmitting and receiving simultaneously, and we’re honouring the space in the middle,” he reflects. “That is what I think I do: I go into a room and I pay attention to whatever that space is in between us — and that’s where it happens. That indefinable thing. It’s elemental. You start with something that belongs to you, and it becomes something that belongs to everyone.”