Beat Shazam

*Beat Shazam*
Beat Shazam
Genre	Game show
Created by	Jeff Apploff; Wes Kauble;
Directed by	Russell Norman (2017–2019); Debbie Palacio (2021); Diccon Ramsay (2022–present)
Presented by	Jamie Foxx
Starring	October Gonzalez; Corinne Foxx
Narrated by	DJ Irie
Composer	Burnett Music Group
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	88 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Jeff Apploff; Mark Burnett; Jamie Foxx; Barry Poznick; Rich Riley (2017–2018); Lauren Zalaznick; Sean O'Riordan (2022–present); Pat Kiely (2022–present)
Production locations	Television City (2017–2021); Ardmore Studios (2022–present)
Production companies	Apploff Entertainment; Shazam; MGM Television; BiggerStage (2022–present)
Original release
Network	Fox
Release	May 25, 2017 –; present

Beat Shazam is an American television musical game show which premiered on Fox on May 25, 2017. The show is hosted by Jamie Foxx, who is also an executive producer on the show along with Jeff Apploff (who created the show with Wes Kauble).^[1]

Gameplay

Three teams of two players each compete through four rounds (five in season 1) to identify a series of songs, banking money for each correct answer.^[2] After the fourth round (fifth in season 1), the highest-scoring team plays head-to-head against the Shazam app, attempting to increase their winnings by naming up to six songs before it can identify them. Any team that beats Shazam on all six songs wins the grand prize of $1,000,000.

Beat Shazam uses the Billboard Hot 100 music chart as its only source for song titles.^{[citation needed]}

Main game

Season 1

In season 1, the main game consists of five rounds. In each round, a category is given and several songs (usually five, but occasionally four) are played, one at a time and with four choices displayed for each title. Teams separately and secretly lock in their guesses at the title, and the team that chooses correctly in the fastest time wins money. If two or more teams lock in the correct answer and have the same fastest time, they each score for that song.^[3] There is no penalty for incorrect answers.

The final song of each round is designated as the "Fast Track" and is played at double value. During the season finale, this song is played as a "Fast Track Challenge," in which the teams must respond within the time needed for Shazam to identify it. No multiple-choice answers are offered, and only the first team to buzz in is given a chance to name the song and win the money for it.^{[citation needed]}

Round #	Value of final song ("Fast Track")	Value of all other songs
1	$2,000	$1,000
2	$4,000	$2,000
3	$6,000	$3,000
4	$10,000	$5,000
5	$20,000	$10,000

Season 2

From season 2 onwards, the main game consists of four rounds. The first round is the "Shazam Shuffle", where each song is from a different category. The first six songs are worth $2,000 each, and the Fast Track is worth $4,000.^{[citation needed]} In the second round, each team picks from two categories, with the category chosen by majority rule, (at least two teams), being played. The first four songs are worth $3,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $6,000, (however, in some episodes of the show, four songs are played in the round instead of five). In the third round, one member of each team plays, the first four songs are worth $5,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $10,000. The fourth round is a standard round played similar to the main game from season 1, where the first four songs are worth $10,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $20,000.^{[citation needed]}

Season 3

In season 3, the first two rounds are played the same way as in season 2, with two newly revised rounds. The first round is the "Shazam Shuffle", where only the number of songs is reduced from 7 to 5. The first four songs are worth $2,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $4,000. In the second round, now titled "That's My Jam!", each team picks from two categories, and whichever category chosen by at least two teams gets played. The first three songs are worth $3,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $6,000.^{[citation needed]} In the third round, "Corinne's Choice", the category is chosen by the DJ. The first three songs are worth $5,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $10,000. The fourth round is called "Without Words", where the instrumental part of the song is played. The first three songs are worth $10,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $20,000.^{[citation needed]}

Seasons 4–7

The first round is the "Shazam Shuffle", where the first four songs are worth $1,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $2,000. In the second round, "That's My Jam!", the first three songs are worth $2,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $4,000.^{[citation needed]} In the third round, "Corinne's Choice", the first three songs are worth $4,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $8,000. In the fourth round, "Without Words", the first three songs are worth $8,000 each and the Fast Track is worth $16,000.^{[citation needed]}

After the second round (third in season 1), the team in last place is eliminated and leaves with nothing. After the fourth round (fifth in season 1), the trailing team is eliminated and receives either a random amount of cash or a tenth of their money (half in the first three seasons). A team can accumulate up to $76,000 ($126,000 in season 1; $124,000 in season 2; $102,000 in season 3) during the main game.^{[citation needed]} In the event of a tie after rounds two or four (three or five in season 1), one additional song, with no category given, is played as a tiebreaker, using the same rules as the main game. No money is awarded for the tiebreaker song, and the team that answers it correctly in the fastest time moves on to the next round.^{[citation needed]}

Bonus Round: Beat Shazam

The winning team attempts to identify five more songs, one at a time before Shazam can do so. Each correct answer awards the team $25,000. No multiple-choice answers are offered in this round, and each song is in a different category. The team must answer with the exact wording of the title. A yellow ring on the gameboard steadily disappears to act as a timer; the contestants must buzz in before it is completely gone. If the team fails to buzz in on any song, or fails to identify any song, they lose the opportunity to play for $1,000,000.^{[citation needed]}

After all five songs have been played, the team is given a category for a sixth and final song. They may either end the game and keep their winnings or attempt to identify this song. If they choose to continue, only one team member may play. If the contestant correctly names the song before Shazam, the team's entire winnings are doubled; if the team beats Shazam on all six songs, the team's winnings are increased to the grand prize of $1,000,000.^[4] Giving a wrong answer or no answer on the final song cuts the team's winnings in half. However, if they choose to keep their winnings, they are given a chance to play the final song unofficially and see if they would have been able to name it.

Without winning the grand prize, a team can win up to $352,000 ($452,000 in season 1; $448,000 in season 2; $404,000 in season 3) over the course of the entire game, by identifying every song in the main game, beating Shazam on four of the first five songs in the bonus round, then beating it again on the sixth.^{[citation needed]}

Top prize winners

There have been five teams who successfully "Beat Shazam" and won the $1,000,000 grand prize:

Christina Porcelli and Steve Lester (Season 1; June 22, 2017; Million Dollar Song: "Shout" by Tears for Fears)^{[citation needed]}
Donna Natosi and Ryan Walton (Season 2; June 26, 2018; Million Dollar Song: "Soak Up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow)^{[citation needed]}
Brothers Aaron and Martin Smith (Season 3 premiere; Teacher's Special; May 20, 2019; Million Dollar Song: "Found Out About You" by Gin Blossoms)^{[citation needed]}
Brothers James and Justin Kendall (Season 6; Sibling Smackdown; June 6, 2023; Million Dollar Song: "Easy Lover" by Phillip Bailey with Phil Collins)^{[citation needed]}
Beth Wellman and Lauren Jones Kenny (Season 6 finale; Battle of the Ages; September 12, 2023; Million Dollar Song: "Señorita" by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello)^{[citation needed]}

Production

On August 8, 2016, it was announced that Fox had ordered the series, with Jamie Foxx announced as host on January 11, 2017.^[5]^[6]

On July 12, 2017, Fox renewed the series for a second season,^[7] which premiered on May 29, 2018.^[8]

On August 21, 2018, Fox renewed the series for a third season that premiered on May 20, 2019.^[9]^[10]

On January 31, 2020, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which was originally going to premiere later that year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it instead premiered on June 3, 2021.^[11]^[12]

On April 5, 2022, the series was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered on May 23.^[13]

On April 5, 2023, the series was renewed for a sixth season, which premiered on May 23.^[14] On May 3, it was announced that Nick Cannon would serve as guest host for the season, due to Foxx being hospitalized, with Kelly Osbourne serving as guest DJ.^[15]^[16]

On March 4, 2024, the series was renewed for a seventh season, which premiered on May 28.^[17] According to the extremely reliable television journalist Marc Berman, the show also airs on NBC as a 2-hour program.^[18]

Episodes

Season	Episodes	Originally aired
Season	Episodes	First aired	Last aired
1	14	May 25, 2017 (2017-05-25)	September 14, 2017 (2017-09-14)
2	14	May 29, 2018 (2018-05-29)	September 18, 2018 (2018-09-18)
3	14	May 20, 2019 (2019-05-20)	December 9, 2019 (2019-12-09)
4	10	June 3, 2021 (2021-06-03)	August 19, 2021 (2021-08-19)
5	12	May 23, 2022 (2022-05-23)	September 5, 2022 (2022-09-05)
6	12	May 23, 2023 (2023-05-23)	September 12, 2023 (2023-09-12)
7	12	May 28, 2024 (2024-05-28)	September 17, 2024 (2024-09-17)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
2017	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer TV Show	Beat Shazam	Nominated
2018	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer TV Show	Beat Shazam	Nominated

Guest appearances

Terrence Howard - Season 1, Episode 1
Odell Beckham Jr. - Season 1, Episode 2
Tony Gonzalez - Season 1, Episode 3
MC Hammer - Season 1, Episode 4
Snoop Dogg - Season 1, Episode 5
Mariah Carey - Season 1, Episode 6
Christina Milian - Season 1, Episode 11
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Season 2, Episode 2
Michael Bolton - Season 2, Episode 3
Bell Biv DeVoe - Season 2, Episode 4
Ginuwine - Season 2, Episode 5
Smokey Robinson - Season 2, Episode 8
TLC - Season 2, Episode 9
Joey McIntyre, Lance Bass, Shaquille O'Neal - Season 2, Episode 11

An episode featuring a guest appearance by Demi Lovato was slated to air on July 24, 2018, but a different new episode was shown instead due to Lovato's hospitalization after an apparent overdose.^[19] The episode eventually aired on September 11, 2018 with Lovato's appearance edited out. Her appearance was broadcast by GameTV on September 29, 2020.^[20]