SHAZAM HAS 100 BILLION REASONS TO CELEBRATE

Shazam has surpassed more than 100 billion song recognitions since its 2002 launch.

The company helped put that in perspective by pointing out that the number is equivalent to roughly 12 songs each for the 8.2b people living on Earth. Apparently, someone would have to Shazam a song every second for 3,168 years, which sounds exhausting, to reach 100b. Nevertheless, the good folks over at Shazam couldn't be more elated to share the news. They're just disappointed we're the ones writing about it.

Shazam was acquired by Apple in 2018. "This monumental milestone not only reflects how much people enjoy using Shazam but their appetite for new music,” said VP of Apple Music and Beats Oliver Schusser. "Music discovery is at the core of everything we do, and we keep innovating to make sure music lovers around the world can tap the Shazam button no matter where they hear music playing.”

Shazam was launched in the U.K. as an SMS service. Back then, fans would dial 2580 and hold up their phones to get the song name and artist via text. When the App Store and Shazam’s iOS app were introduced in 2008, this still-cool (at least to us) music-recognition technology expanded to millions of users.