Tones And I Sets Shazam’s All-Time Record as Music Recognition App Turns 20
It’s been called the GOAT of music apps, it almost certainly lives on your device, and the business itself is worth several hundred million dollars (at the very least).
Shazam, the British-originated platform that takes the guesswork out of that tune you need to have, turns 20 and crunches some numbers to mark the milestone.
Australian acts have played a key part in Shazam’s history.
With over 41 million “Shazams,” Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey” is the most most “Shazamed” song of them all.
“Dance Monkey” is also the fastest track to reach 20 million Shazams.
The first track to reach 10 million Shazams? “Somebody That I Used to Know,” the chart-topping, Grammy Award winning hit from 2011 by Gotye featuring Kimbra.
Also, Melbourne rapper Masked Wolf had the most-Shazamed track globally in the year 2021 with “Astronaut in the Ocean.”
“The fact that people all over the world took time out of their day to pull out their phone and Shazam my songs is a huge honour for me as an artist,” comments Masked Wolf (real name Harry Michael). “You know you’ve got something special if you see the Shazam stats moving.”
The most Shazamed artist of all time is Drake, reps say.
The Shazam app, which lets users identify a track by pointing a smart phone at the recording, has been downloaded more than a billion times since its commercial launch in August 2002.
An early version allowed users to “tag” a track by dialing “2580” on their handsets and pointing it toward the source of the music for roughly 30 seconds.
Shazam then issued an SMS identifying the title and its performer.
Thankfully, technology has improved and, today, Shazam boasts more than 70 billion song recognitions, upwards of 225 million global monthly users, and more than 2 billion lifetime installs.
Tech giant Apple snapped up the U.K. company in September 2018 in a deal worth an estimated US$400 million.
Check out Shazam’s lists of “notable firsts”:
• First-ever Shazamed song: “Jeepster” by T. Rex (19 April 2002)1
• First Shazamed song on the iOS app: “How Am I Different” by Aimee Mann (10 July 2008)
• First track to reach 1,000 Shazams: “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” by Eminem (September 2002)
• First track to reach 1 million Shazams: “TiK ToK” by Ke$ha (February 2010)
• First track to reach 10 million Shazams: “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye feat. Kimbra (December 2012)
• First track to reach 20 million Shazams: “Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Radio Edit)” by Lilly Wood & The Prick and Robin Schulz (October 2015)
• First artist to hit 1 million Shazams: Lil Wayne (February 2009)
• First artist to hit 10 million Shazams: Lil Wayne (June 2011)
• First artist to hit 100 million Shazams: David Guetta (May 2015)
Fastest Tracks to Accumulate Shazams
• Fastest track to reach 1 million Shazams: “Butter” by BTS (nine days)
• Fastest track to reach 10 million Shazams: “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran (87 days)
• Fastest track to reach 20 million Shazams: “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I (219 days)
Most Shazamed of All Time
• Drake is the most Shazamed artist of all time with over 350 million Shazams across songs the artist has led or featured on. “One Dance” is Drake’s most popular track at over 17 million Shazams.
• “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I is the most Shazamed song ever with over 41 million Shazams.
• “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley was the most Shazamed song using the ‘2580’ text service.
Top Shazamed Songs by Genre
• Top Hip-Hop/Rap: “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton
• Top Dance: “Prayer In C (Robin Schulz Radio Edit)” by Lilly Wood & The Prick and Robin Schulz
• Top R&B/Soul: “All of Me” by John Legend
• Top Latin: “Mi Gente” by J Balvin and Willy William
• Top Pop: “Let Her Go” by Passenger
• Top Alternative: “Dance Monkey” by Tones And I
• Top Singer/Songwriter: “Take Me to Church” by Hozier