The world is in its TikTok era – popular music is determined by its short-form video virality, and 2021’s most Shazamed song reflects this.
Gone are the days of enjoying a song because of its intricate melodies, unique rhythmic devices or just general musicality. All that matters now is if you can use a song for a short weird dance or to advertise your beauty products.
In a modern-day story of success, Sydney’s Masked Wolf had been rapping for years before TikTok got a hold of Astronaut in The Ocean and shot him into international fame. This year, the track claimed the top spot as the most Shazamed song in the world.
Masked Wolf has had an interesting rise to fame. Hailing from Sydney’s suburb of Maroubra, the Greek-Australian rapper began his career in 2018 and actually released Astronaut in The Ocean in 2019, to no avail.
Becoming a viral TikTok tune, Astronaut In The Ocean was re-released in January 2021, as Masked Wolf was signed to Warner Music/Elektra Records. Its global success is reflected in its glory as the most Shazamed song of the year.
When someone says I don’t like Astronaut In The Ocean 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
— Masked Wolf (@maskedwolfmusic) October 17, 2021
Shazam is one of the most used apps worldwide. Owned by Apple, it sees over a billion Shazams per month. That’s a heck of a lot of Shazams.
The app also made its way into popular vernacular, quickly becoming a verb when it rose to popularity in the mid-2000s – a strategy the greatest marketing experts could only dream of.
Astronaut in The Ocean took out the top spot by a landslide with 11.7 million Shazams. The Weeknd’s Save Your Tears sat as the second most Shazamed song, with 8.5 million.
Ed Sheeran‘s Bad Habits was in third place, and Olivia Rodrigo’s driver’s license was the fourth most Shazamed song of the year.
“With 1 billion recognitions a month, Shazam is one of the most popular music apps in the world. Today’s milestones show not only people’s love for Shazam, but also the ever-growing appetite for music discovery around the world.” says Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, Oliver Schusser.
