Just how often is Shazam used to work out what you’re listening to? You’ll need a Dr. Evil pinky finger to the lips to say it.
One billion Shazams. That’s how many songs are being identified with Shazam, something you can with almost the vernacular as Dr. Evil, holding a pinky finger pressed to pursed lips and looking impressive.
It’s a number that speaks our reliance on the song identification system, with its own, Apple, noting Shazam has seen 50 billion music IDs of over 51 million songs since its creation in 2002.
In recent years, Apple has kept Shazam as a cross-platform music identification app working across iOS and Android, but it’s also able to be started directly from the iOS drop-down settings, allowing you to check songs in the background while you use an iPhone.
With all that cross-platform love, it’ll probably be unsurprising to find out that we’re all using Shazam more often than we used to, with Apple outing that it took 10 years to reach the first billion music IDs, but it’s now hitting an extra billion each month.
“With 1 billion recognitions a month, Shazam is one of the most popular music apps in the world,” said Oliver Schusser, Vice President of Apple Music and Beats at Apple.
“Today’s milestones show not only people’s love for Shazam, but also the ever-growing appetite for music discovery around the world,” he said.
Perhaps most interestingly, the most identified track on the service hails from Australia, with Tones and I’s “Dance Monkey” seen as the most Shazamed track.
As to whether it will hold onto that spot, only time will tell, with the music identification service growing in capability, and sort to provide its own direct connection to apps made for iOS and macOS this year.
