Calvin Harris has become the first UK solo act to notch up more than one billion plays worldwide on an internet music streaming service.

The DJ and chart star is one of only a few global music acts to achieve the milestone on Spotify, a digital service which allows people access to millions of tracks. He joins Coldplay as the only other British artists to do so.

Dumfries-born Harris's hit Summer is the most popular track on the service and has now been streamed more than 160 million times. His music has been streamed on Spotify for the equivalent of over 5,000 continuous years.

He is the eighth act to break through the billion barrier and joins the likes of Eminem, Rihanna, David Guetta and Katy Perry.

The success of services such as Spotify compares with the decline of UK album sales. Only around 1.18m copies of the traditional format were sold last week, the lowest figure for 19 years as users save playlists via streaming services.

Spotify gives 70 per cent of its revenues to rights holders and says that all artists will benefit from streaming becoming the main way of consuming music.Mark Terry, the co-president of his label Columbia Records UK, said: "This is a landmark achievement for Calvin and deserved recognition that he is in the elite tier of global artists."

Steve Savoca, Spotify's vice-president of content and distribution, said: "We would like to congratulate Calvin Harris on reaching the huge milestone of a billion streams on Spotify, conclusive proof if any were needed that he is one of the most popular artists on Spotify."