Pandora Played 13 Billion Hours of Music in 2012

One of the oldest written songs in history is the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal. It's inscribed on a clay tablet and dates back to 1400 BC. Unfortunately, you can't build a radio station around the 3,400-year-old song on Pandora, but there are plenty of alternatives. In fact, music lovers listened to over 1 million different songs by over 100,000 different artists on Pandora in 2012, the Internet radio service claims.

"A belated happy new year to our listeners! We hope you've hit the ground running in 2013. At the end of each year at Pandora we always pause to take a look back. We have much to be thankful for, but the passion and joy we feel from our listeners is at the top of our list. Thank you for making 2012 yet another fantastic year," Pandora stated in a blog post.


Pandora's unique in that each song is analyzed by a trained music analyst using up to 450 distinct musical characteristics. This sophisticated collection of musical data is part of Pandora's Music Genome Project, which is intended to stream songs that you'll most likely enjoy based on other songs you've given a thumbs-up to.

The result is that listeners tuned in to Pandora and streamed over 13 billion hours of music in 2012. The streaming service says users created over 1.6 billion stations last year, with over 10,000 artists having more than 250,000 unique listeners.

"So thanks again for listening," Pandora added. "And remember, if you find a band you love, buy their music, go see a show, join a fan club. That's how we'll create a vital and healthy music culture here, and around the world."