Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Apple-owned music discovery app, Shazam, has launched national Top 200 charts in Nigeria as part of its expansion to 17 new countries across Africa and Asia, including new city charts for each country.
Shazam’s Top 200 charts, which are updated daily, rank the most Shazamed tracks in a country for the past seven days.
Nigeria was ranked as one of these new countries which also include Algeria, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Philippines, Senegal, Tanzania, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zambia.
The service’s chart offering now comprises one global chart, 70 national charts, around 1,500 city charts, 30 Discovery charts, and about 60 global and national genre charts.
These are publicly available in the Shazam app and on its website.
Shazam, which was acquired by Apple for $400 million in 2018, holds a unique position in the global discovery of music.
Over 225 million monthly active users are discovering music via the app, and they’re now generating more than 1 billion song recognitions per month (and over 50 billion total since its inception in 2002).
Alongside the launch of the new charts, Shazam has played a particularly key role in taking African artists to a global audience on its platform.
This discoverability has been driven by social media and viral challenges, combined with the launch of Shazam’s Control Center feature on iOS and iPadOS.
The company noted that a number of Shazam Global No. 1 singles to highlight this trend, include – Kizz Daniel & Tekno’s Buga ( May 15, 2022), Black Sherif’s Kwaku the Traveller (June 4, 2022), Pheelz & BNXN fka Buju’s Finesse (July 3, 2022), and Goya Menor and Nektunez ‘s Ameno Amapiano (December 24, 2021).
Others include Amaarae & Moliy Feat. Kali Uchis’s Sad Girlz Luv Money Remix (November 10, 2021), CKay Feat. Axel & Dj Yo!’s love nwantiti [Remix] (October 9, 2021), and Master KG Feat. Nomcebo Zikode’s Jerusalema (July 9, 2020).
Apple Music noted that all of these Shazam Global No.1s were social media-driven and Shazam’s Control Center module was the most popular identification method on iOS at the height of their virality, with the exception of Jerusalema, which launched before the release of the feature but still benefitted from the virality of the #jerusalemachallenge.
After they started gaining traction on Shazam, all of these tracks then started to take off on the Apple Music platform globally.
For example, Wizkid’s Essence, featuring Tems, hit the Top 10 of the Daily Top 100 in 49 countries worldwide, including the United States, South Africa, and Nigeria.
Fireboy DML’s Peru reached the Top 10 in 22 countries, including No.1 in Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana. Jerusalema, meanwhile has reached the Top 10 in 58 countries worldwide, including France, Italy, Belgium, and Sweden.
Via a number of remixes, Love Nwantiti hit the upper reaches of Daily Top 100 charts across various countries across the globe.
The remix featuring Joeboy and Kuami Eugene reached the Top 10 in 61 countries, including India, Greece, and Portugal. The remix featuring Axel and DJ Yo reached the top 10 in 63 countries including France, Sweden, Switzerland, and New Zealand.
Love Nwantiti has reached the Top 10 of Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 in 91 countries worldwide, including France, Greece, India, and Belgium.
