Apple Music Crosses 100 Million Song Barrier

Apple Music is about to cross a huge milestone, offering its eye-and-ear-popping 100 millionth song on the streaming service.

The music giant tells The Associated Press that internal data indicates Apple Music reached the heady mark on Monday. Every day, 20,000 singers and songwriters release music on the service.

“It’s a huge, huge number,” Rachel Newman, Apple’s global head of editorial and content, told the AP. “It really is possible to create music and record it and release it more than ever before in the history of music, which we think is pretty incredible.”

Apple Music says the milestone cements it as the world’s largest catalog of music, more than YouTube Music’s 80 million songs, Spotify’s 82 million tracks and podcasts, and Amazon Music’s 90 million songs.

While the actual song that brings Apple Music across the threshold won’t be known, there’s a good chance it will not originate from the U.S. or even be in English as the service sees more and more music arrive from all over the world.

The milestone has been fast approaching as the globe gets more digitalized. The number of Apple Music songs has doubled in the last four years, from 50 million in 2018, with the pandemic believed to have accelerated the timetable as people in isolation looked for creative outlets.

Apple Inc. started iTunes in 2003 with 200,000 songs feeding its iPods and launched Apple Music seven years ago — now feeding iPhones — with subscribers in 167 countries and regions.

It also says its customers are not just listening to whatever’s new; they’re exploring back catalogues of artists. In 2015, when Apple Music launched, the top 1,000 songs made up 20% of the plays. Now they make up 10%. The average song’s release date is from March 7, 2017, a number pulled down by listeners going back in time.