This song just smashed all Shazam records after its appearance in the Olympics closing ceremony
Didn’t anybody see Drive?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Of all the records broken during the Paris Olympics, not all were broken by the competitors: the song played during the closing ceremony has become the most Shazammed track of all time, beating a record previously set during the same Olympics' opening ceremony. And that, clearly, means not everybody who should’ve seen the movieDrivehas actually seen it, because it was a key song in that movie.
The song isNightcallby Kavinsky, who joined French rock band Phoenix on stage at the ceremony. The song was never a chart-topper following its release in 2010 but if you sawDriveyou’ll know it. It also turned up in the movie version ofThe Lincoln Lawyerand in the somewhat less well-known crowdsourced movieOur RoboCop Remake,and it’s been covered byLondon Grammar,M Roosevelt and Mitski, andMy Vitriol, among many others.
Why the Olympics broke Shazam’s records
The goal of the Olympics, officially at least, is to bring the people of the world together – and this time around it did that twice by getting people to go “what’s that song?” At the opening ceremony the song was the 1977 disco bangerSupernatureby Cerrone, which hasquite the video.And for the closing ceremony it wasNightcall, whichyou can see performed here.
According toApple, as reported by EDM.com,Nightcallalso set a new record for the most Shazammed song in a single day, with France, Mexico and the US the top three countries for searches during the closing ceremony. Other songs that saw a sharp increase in searches were Phoenix’sLisztomaniaandIf I Ever Feel Better, both of which were performed in the same ceremony.
For me, though, the musical highlight was Gojira’s spectacular performance at the beginning of the Olympics: you can’t argue witha show featuring severed heads, fire, headbanging, fire, fire and fireafter all…
You may also like
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.
The most mind-blowing portable speaker of 2024 is now cheaper, and finally coming to the UK too
The Bose QuietComfort Headphones fall back to their lowest-ever price at Amazon
Google TV will require more RAM for future upgrades – which might leave older TVs and streaming boxes behind
