Swiftie Bilal Ilyas Jhandir, 20, of Pakistan, has set a Guinness World Record by naming the most Taylor Swift songs in one minute. The announcement was made on January 26, creating a watershed moment for Taylor Swift fans.
Bilal correctly identified 34 randomly selected hits from Taylor Swift’s top 50 best-selling songs, breaking the previous record set by UK radio personality Dan Simpson, who picked 27 tracks in 2019.
The difficult assignment was to recognize the first lines of Taylor Swift’s singles, which were read aloud in monotone by a man. Notably, the words were not accompanied by music, which added to the feat’s impressiveness. He described himself as a “die-hard” Taylor Swift admirer, Bilal shared, “I have listened to each and every song of hers. I can identify almost any song of hers from the lyrics.”
To prepare for this astounding feat, Bilal spent 13 weeks immersed in Taylor Swift’s enormous catalog. He was so committed that he recited lyrics while sleeping.
Bilal’s Effortless Triumph: Mastering Taylor Swift’s songs with regular listening
Despite finding the endeavor difficult, Bilal deemed it “easy” due to his regular listening habits and natural memorization of Taylor Swift’s songs. Bilal proudly accepted the title of ‘Officially Amazing Swiftie,’ expressing his enthusiasm for the pop singer and calling breaking the record the “best way on Earth” to demonstrate his love for the musician.
Bilal, who has been a follower of Taylor Swift since the age of 13, believes “Folklore” to be his favorite album, citing the artist’s genuineness and the emotional depth of her lyrics. He commended Swift’s capacity to touch the hearts of fans through her music in his post-record achievement comments.
Bilal’s triumph adds to his already impressive list of accomplishments, which includes two Guinness World Records. In 2021, he set the record for identifying the most animals (23) based on their noises in one minute. In 2023, he set another record by identifying the most Justin Bieber songs (29) based on their lyrics in one minute.