You Might Be Surprised By What the Most Shazamed Rap Song of All Time Is
Today marks the 20th anniversary of music discovery app Shazam, who’s most-streamed rap song is Macklemore’s 2011 hit “Can’t Hold Us.”
In a surprising twist, Macklemore has the most-streamed rap song on music discovery app Shazam. His 2011 hit “Can’t Hold Us,” with producer Ryan Lewis and vocalist Ray Dalton is Shazam’s most popular song in the Top Hip-Hop/Rap category, celebrated during the platform’s 20th anniversary on Friday (August 19).
With over 350 million Shazams, Drake is the app’s most Shazamed artist of all-time, as “One Dance” is his most popular track at over 17 million Shazams. “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley was the most Shazamed song using the “2580” text service that began in 2002.
“Can’t Hold Us” remains one of Macklemore’s biggest hits, reaching notoriety one year after its release by being featured on The Heist, the rapper’s 2012 collaborative album with Lewis. In 2014, The Heist won Best Rap Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, with Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, and Lewis also winning Best New Artist during the ceremony. That year, their 2012 single “Thrift Shop” also won Best Rap Performance.
As Haggerty and Kendrick Lamar were both nominated for Best New Artist during the 2014 Grammy Awards, many hip-hop enthusiasts thought Lamar was robbed. In an awkward publicized text exchange, Haggerty told Lamar he felt guilty that the Good Kid, M.A.A.D City rhymesayer “got robbed.”
Since his Grammy wins, Haggerty has mainly fallen into obscurity besides releasing his sophomore album Gemini in 2017, dropping loosie singles and appearing on Lil Dicky’s FX comedy series Dave. As October marks the ten-year anniversary of The Heist, Haggerty released new single “Manic” featuring Windser today.
The rapper is currently on the Mercury Tour with pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Tickets can be purchased here.