Shazam hits 100 Bn song recognitions since it launched which is equivalent to 12 songs identified for every person on Earth. Or to put it another way, a person would need to use Shazam to identify a song every second for 3,168 years to reach 100 Bn recognitions. Shazam’s top song ever, “Dance Monkey,” has over 45 million tags and Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” was the first track released this year to hit 10 million recognitions, and the fastest, doing so in 178 days.
Shazam launched in 2002 as an SMS service in the UK, and back then, music fans would dial 2580, hold up their phones to identify music, and receive the song name and artist via text message. Shazam’s following and influence continued to grow in the years that followed, but it was the 2008 debut of the App Store and introduction of Shazam’s iOS app that brought its music recognition technology to millions of users. By the summer of 2011, Shazam had already recognised over 1 Bn songs. In 2018 Shazam was bought by Apple who have continued to invest in the app.
Recent innovations include Music Recognition on iOS and macOS, which allows users to quickly identify music around them or within apps — even while using headphones. The latest watchOS update goes a step further by adding Shazam as a widget to the Smart Stack, proactively suggesting music recognition whenever music is detected nearby. For users on the go, the integration of Shazam into the Action button on recent iPhone and Apple Watch models enables music recognition with a simple press-and-hold, making it even easier to name that song. Shazam also enhances the experience of its Android users, with the latest Wear OS update enabling song identification directly from a user’s watch. Plus, Shazam’s Quick Settings tile now offers direct access to users’ history.
Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats said, “This monumental milestone not only reflects how much people enjoy using Shazam, but also their appetite for new music. Music discovery is at the core of everything we do, and we keep innovating to make sure music lovers around the world can tap the Shazam button no matter where they hear music playing!”
Shazam’s Top 100 Songs of All Time can be found as a playlist on Apple Music here.
