Narratives around Shazam say that it is a shameful act, that you should hide your phone when shazamming or else you’ll be viewed as ‘out-of-touch’, not part of the cool crowd, or worse, someone with garbage music taste. To this we say nonsense.
An app that allows you to identify (almost) any song quicker than you can say ‘damn what song is this?’ should be hailed as one of the greatest inventions and achievements of mankind.
It's invaluable to music lovers and a critical tool in a DJ's repertoire - allowing you to ID a tune and get it in your next mix simply by tapping a phone screen.
We may be overstating the praise just a little, but for a good reason. Shazam just turned 20!
Starting in 2002 (older than the iPhone), Shazam initially started as a UK text message service. One would ring ‘2258’ on their cell, then hold up the phone as a song would play, receiving a text message with the song name and artists soon after -genius really.
Anyway, to celebrate the big ‘2 0’, Shazam released an Apple Music of the most Shazammed song every year from the past 20 years, as well as a bunch of stats.
Important Dates:
- August 2002: Shazam launches as a text message service based in the UK.
- July 2008: Shazam launches on the brand-new App Store. Shazam later launched its Android version in October 2008.
- April 2015: Shazam becomes available on the first Apple Watch.
- September 2018: Shazam joins the Apple family.
- June 2021: Shazam surpasses 1 billion Shazams per month.
- May 2022: Shazam surpasses 2 billion lifetime installs.
- August 2022: Shazam celebrates 20 years of music discovery and hits 70 billion all-time Shazams.
Notable Firsts:
- First-ever Shazamed song: “Jeepster” by T. Rex (April 19, 2002)
- First Shazamed song on the iOS app: “How Am I Different” by Aimee Mann (July 10, 2008)
- First track to reach 1,000 Shazams: “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” by Eminem (September 2002)
- First track to reach one 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
