Shazam identifying a billion tracks each month, Apple says

First-ever Shazamed song was “Jeepster” by T. Rex (April 19, 2002)

Apple has put together a special playlist comprising the most Shazamed songs of the last twenty years as a gesture of celebration for 20-years of the service.

225 million users identify a billion tracks a month

The company also revealed that Shazam has been used to identify 70 billion tracks and has over 225 million global monthly users. At present it is being used to identify a billion songs each month, the company said.

Back when Shazam was founded in 2002 it required users to dial “2580” and hold their phones up to the speakers, eventually receiving a text that identified the song and artist. Now it also includes links to music tickets and lyrics.

The playlists are quite a thing, reflecting two decades of music searches.

There’s a track for each year, including Gnarls Barkley’s neo-soul smash “Crazy” and  Tones And I’s 2019 blockbuster “Dance Monkey”, which, with 41 million requests, is the most-discovered song in the app’s history. And, of course, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”.

Some interesting stats

Shazam has played a key role in bringing local artists to a global audience. The first-ever Shazamed song was “Jeepster” by T. Rex (April 19, 2002).

The longest-running global No. 1 song of 2021 was “Love Nwantiti [Remix]” by Nigerian artist CKay, which became the second song to ever surpass one million Shazams in a week.

The company was acquired by Apple in September 2018. It’s now available as an app for other platforms and built into Apple’s solutions.

Apple’s Shazam service recently commenced an interesting promotional series of curated guides within Apple Maps showing listings and ticket sales.

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