A 20-year-old Taylor Swift enthusiast from Pakistan has achieved global fame by breaking the Guinness World Record for identifying all of the pop sensation’s songs from their lyrics in just one minute. Bilal Ilyas Jhandir’s remarkable feat saw him successfully name 34 randomly listed hits from Taylor Swift’s top 50 best-selling songs, surpassing the previous record held by UK radio host Dan Simpson, who named 27 songs in 2019.
In an intense challenge, Bilal had to recognize the initial lyrics of Taylor Swift’s hits, which were read aloud monotonously by a proctor, without the aid of any accompanying background music. Expressing his passion for the artist, Bilal proudly stated, “I have listened to each and every song of hers. I can identify almost any song of hers from the lyrics.” He has been an avid fan of Taylor Swift since the age of 13.
To prepare for the world record attempt, Bilal dedicated 13 weeks to “extensive listening sessions” to engrain every single word of Taylor Swift’s songs into his memory. His dedication was so profound that he often found himself reciting the lyrics even while asleep. Despite the challenge, Bilal found the task “easy,” with the only added difficulty being the way the lyrics were spoken by a man instead of the popstar herself.
For Bilal, breaking this global record was the “best way on Earth” to express his extraordinary love and dedication to Taylor Swift. He shared, “The thing I like the most about her is her way of writing out-of-this-world songs that always hit the bottom of my heart.”
Bilal’s impressive memorization skills have earned him multiple Guinness World Records. In 2021 and 2023, he achieved records for the most animals identified from their sounds in one minute (23) and the most Justin Bieber songs identified from their lyrics in one minute (29), respectively. However, he proudly declared, “This record is my favorite of all of them.”
Being known as a “Certified Swiftie” and “Officially Amazing Swiftie” is an incredible feeling for Bilal, who is a Computer Science major student with a passion for music that has now earned him a place in the record books.
