The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on July 26 put music in the spotlight. Artistes such as Lady Gaga, Aya Nakamura, Gojira and Philippe Katerine took to the stage, much to the delight of music fans.
Many spectators watching took to the music platform Shazam to identify the songs they heard during the four-hour event.
In particular, Shazam recorded a peak in activity when spectators at the opening ceremony of the Games could hear a medley of electronic tracks including “Bla Bla Bla” by Gigi D’Agostino, “Stereo Love” by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina, and “Sandstorm” by Darude.
Many music fans logged on to the music-recognition app at the same time – so much so that 10.01pm Central European Time became the most “Shazamed” minute in history.
But the most “Shazamed” track of the entire ceremony was Cerrone’s “Supernature”. This electro-disco track, released in 1977, quickly reached second place in the Shazam worldwide charts on July 26, as well as first place in 10 countries. It was particularly popular in France, Mexico, Germany and Spain.
It’s an incredible moment in the spotlight for its composer, Marc Cerrone: the godfather of French Touch saw searches for his music on the app increase by over 187-fold on July 26, compared to the week preceding the opening ceremony of the Games.
Aya Nakamura enjoyed similar success on Shazam following her high-profile performance on Paris’s Pont des Arts bridge, where she performed a medley of her hits and Charles Aznavour’s “For me, formidable”, accompanied by the Republican Guard and the French Army Choir.
The Franco-Malian singer’s Shazams reached a record high on July 26, with an increase of over 1,800%. American, German and Mexican music lovers flocked to the app to get acquainted with her musical repertoire and, in particular, with her track “Pookie,” which entered 20 Shazam national charts for the first time.
The opening ceremony of the Games also prompted music lovers the world over to turn their attention to Philippe Katerine. The French singer took part in this international festivity by performing a previously unreleased song, entitled “Nu” (“Nude”), during a scene referencing paintings showing Olympian gods feasting.
For this occasion, the artiste appeared nearly naked, his body painted blue, prompting Chinese internet users to nickname him “the Smurf artist”. This unprecedented performance boosted the Shazams of another of his songs, “Louxor, j’adore”.
This song, released in 2005 on the album “Robots après tout”, entered 38 national charts of the music-recognition application for the first time following Katerine’s participation in the opening ceremony of the Games. He currently ranks 27th on the Shazam world chart.