Music recognition app Shazam has surpassed 100 billion song identifications since its inception. This means approximately 12 song recognitions for every person on Earth.
Shazam began as an SMS service in the UK in 2002 and has evolved significantly over the years. The app’s growth accelerated with the launch of its iOS version in 2008, and it reached its first billion recognitions by the summer of 2011. Apple acquired Shazam in 2018 for $400M.
The app has over 300 million monthly users and nails global music trends. Case in point: during the Paris games, Kavinsky’s *Nightcall* hit a record as the most ID’d song in just one minute.
Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, stated that this milestone reflects both Shazam’s popularity and users’ appetite for music discovery. He said the company’s commitment to innovation in helping music fans identify songs wherever they hear them.
To commemorate this achievement, Apple Music has released a playlist featuring Shazam’s Top 100 Songs of All Time; here are the top 10.
- Dance Monkey by Tones And I
- Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye
- Let Her Go by Passenger
- Perfect by Ed Sheeran
- Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
- Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
- Take Me To Church by Hozier
- Blinding Lights by The Weeknd
- Way Down We Go by KALEO
- Cheap Thrills by Sia
This milestone underscores Shazam’s significant role in the music industry and its continued relevance in the age of digital music consumption.
More here.
yeah so this means it recognized the same 100 songs 1 billion times? I’m not impressed. I’ve had very low luck with Shazam’s recognition feature, and it totally sucks with anything that’s not been on the top 100 charts for the last 10 years.