Shazam Breaks Record: More Than 100 Billion Songs Have Been Identified

JAKARTA - The popular song recognition app, Shazam, has reached an extraordinary milestone by identifying more than 100 billion songs since its first launch in 2002. This achievement was announced by Apple on Wednesday, November 20, which celebrates this important moment as strong evidence that Shazam is an inseparable part of the discovery of music around the world.

"To reach 100 billion songs, someone has to use Shazam to recognize songs every second for 3,168 years," Apple explained in a press release. This figure is also equivalent to 12 songs for everyone on the planet.

"This monumental milestone not only reflects how much people enjoy using Shazam, but also their desire to find new music. Music discovery is at the heart of what we do, and we continue to innovate so music fans around the world can use the Shazam button wherever they hear music!" said Oliver Schusser, Vice President of Apple Music and Beats.

Shazam was first launched in 2002 as an SMS service in the UK. Users simply call 2580, point the phone at the speaker, and receive the song name and artist via text message. Six years later, Shazam comes in the form of the iOS app, and in 2011 this app has recognized more than 1 billion songs.

Apple acquired Shazam in 2017 and integrated it into Apple's ecosystem in 2018. The music recognition feature through Shazam can even now be added directly to the control center on iOS devices.

As a celebration of the achievement of 100 billion songs, Apple released a list of Shazam's version of the "Top 100 Song Throughout Time", which includes hits such as "Dance Monkey" from Tones and I, One Republic's "Counting Stars", and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky".

Shazam has proven that technology is not only able to recognize music, but also creates new experiences in enjoying music in the digital era.