Find out what song is playing right now

Find out a song being played around you. These apps will tell you what song is playing right now in a bar, movie or television show.

Free  
Special features  
Additional options  
Integration with social services  
Keeps search history  
Identifies songs in the background  
Supported OS  
Shows ads
Supports voice controls
Displays lyrics & links to buy songs, plays a short sample of a track
Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube
Yes
Yes
Android, iOS
Shows ads
Provides visual recognition
Shows other tracks from the same artist, lyrics, YouTube videos, links to buy songs
Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Pandora
Yes
Yes
Mac, Android, iOS
$9.99 per year
Features 500k tracks & 200k artists
Shows samples & covers, compares remixes with original tracks & displays their info
YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, Facebook, Twitter
No
Yes
Android, iOS
Shows ads
Searches songs using only one line of the lyrics, browses lyrics while offline
Shows lyrics, many tracks are displayed in Karaoke style
Youtube, Spotify, Pandora, compatible with most streaming services
Yes
No
Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10
Yes
Uses its own database for identification
Displays lyrics via Google search, provides links to buy ringtones
No
No
No
Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

Free

Shows ads

Shows ads

$9.99 per year

Shows ads

Yes

Special features

Supports voice controls

Provides visual recognition

Features 500k tracks & 200k artists

Searches songs using only one line of the lyrics, browses lyrics while offline

Uses its own database for identification

Additional options

Displays lyrics & links to buy songs, plays a short sample of a track

Shows other tracks from the same artist, lyrics, YouTube videos, links to buy songs

Shows samples & covers, compares remixes with original tracks & displays their info

Shows lyrics, many tracks are displayed in Karaoke style

Displays lyrics via Google search, provides links to buy ringtones

Integration with social services

Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube

Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Pandora

YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, iTunes, Facebook, Twitter

Youtube, Spotify, Pandora, compatible with most streaming services

No

Keeps search history

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

No

Identifies songs in the background

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Supported OS

Android, iOS

Mac, Android, iOS

Android, iOS

Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

SoundHound
SoundHound
29 (53%) 26 (47%)
This free song finder app immediately tells you what song is playing in the background. Tag songs with the big ID button in the middle of the home screen. SoundHound supports voice controls, allowing you to hum or sing a tune for the tool to identify it by sound. It's available for Android and iPhone.
Screenshot
Features
  • Plays a short sample of a track.
  • Star, share, or add a song to your Spotify playlist.
  • Supports voice commands to tag music.
  • Displays lyrics.
  • Provides links to buy a searched song.
Advantages
  • Fast, usually accurate song identification, even in a noisy environment.
  • Control the app hands-free.
  • Broad, diverse music database.
  • Provides lyrics and other data related to a song.
  • Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube integration.
Disadvantages
  • Potential privacy issues.
  • The ad-free version contains sponsored links.
Official website:
soundhound.com
Download:
Android iPhone
Shazam
Shazam
27 (82%) 6 (18%)
It is one of the most well-known app on the market to find out a song playing in a movie or on the radio. Shazam is a quick and accurate free song finder, that offers unlimited song tagging and a wide variety of options, including full integration with Facebook, Spotify, and Pandora. This tool is available for Mac, Android and iOS.
Screenshot
Features
  • Tags songs.
  • Shows other tracks from the same artist.
  • Shows lyrics and YouTube videos for the songs you search.
  • When offline, saves the music it picks up with the audio listening feature, then matches it for you.
  • Provides visual recognition including the QR codes reader.
Advantages
  • Immense music database.
  • Quite accurate song identifier.
  • Displays lyrics when you listen to songs.
  • Keeps a historical list of tracks.
  • Fully integrated with popular social services.
Disadvantages
  • Advertising supported.
  • Sometimes it can’t recognize a song.
Official website:
shazam.com
Download:
Mac Android iPhone
WhoSampled
WhoSampled
9 (50%) 9 (50%)
The app tells you what music is playing around and displays its remixes and covers from the large database featuring over 500k tracks and 200k singers. Access your Apple Music, Spotify or iTunes libraries to find samples, remixes and cover songs of your favourite artists and compare them with original tracks. WhoSampled costs $9.99 per year and is available for Android and iOS.
Screenshot
Features
  • Find music in your Apple Music, Spotify and iTunes libraries or search for a track that isn't in your playlist.
  • Explore music in different jenres (Rock, Jazz, Hip-hop, Classical, etc.).
  • Displays samples, remixes and covers of your favourite songs. See where the song was sampled and by whom.
  • It features over 500k tracks and 200k artists.
  • Compares remixes with the original track.
Advantages
  • Listen to full‐length streamings via YouTube.
  • Share your favourite melody with friends via Facebook and Twitter.
  • See trending artists and tracks.
  • Make new friends from the community, leave comments and rate songs.
  • Buy music from iTunes and get personal recommendations.
Disadvantages
  • You can't add content to protected pages.
  • You can't generate tags on your own.
  • When you submit remixes, sometimes they can mirror the original track.
Official website:
whosampled.com
Download:
Android iPhone
musiXmatch lyrics
musiXmatch lyrics
5 (50%) 5 (50%)
Download
This huge lyrics platform is combined with the song finder tool that is compatible with most third-party audio players to display lyrics. It's free of charge and works on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10.
Screenshot
The Search System
Features
  • Compatible with most streaming services.
  • Search a song using only one line of the lyrics.
  • Browse lyrics while offline.
  • Tag, save and share lyrics with others.
  • Play music from your playlist or and read its lyrics in real-time via the app’s floating lyrics option.
Advantages
  • Huge lyrics database.
  • Large lyrics translation database.
  • Many tracks are displayed in the Karaoke style.
Disadvantages
  • Doesn’t come with music charts.
  • Ads are intrusive.
Official website:
support.musixmatch.com
Tunatic
Tunatic
11 (69%) 5 (31%)
Download
It is a free Windows tool that tells you a title of the song playing in the background. After you play a track to the earphone and hit 'Search', the tool will connect to its database and show you the song title and artist. It works on Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10.
Screenshot
Interface
Features
  • Uses its own database for identification.
  • Analyzes a tune by recording it through a microphone or simply by playing it.
Advantages
  • Provides links to music services like iTunes and buy ringtones.
  • Displays lyrics via Google search.
  • Detect song in different languages.
  • Takes up little desktop space.
Disadvantages
  • Doesn't always work.
  • Sometimes shows incorrect identification.
Official website:
wildbits.com

Conclusion

Overall, the safest pick among the tools is Shazam. Use this Android and iOS app to find out what song is playing right now. It is the fastest and the most accurate song finder app and offers a wide variety of ways to interact with your songs. We recommend using this music finder tool when you need to identify a melody.

What app do you use to identify a song and why? Share it with us and we'll eagerly add it to our list.

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