Pakistani Whiz Bilal Ilyas Jhandir Breaks Guinness World Record

Ikenna ChurchillJanuary 29, 20241 Mins read648

In a virtual feat of musical knowledge, Bilal Ilyas Jhandir, a 20-year-old from Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan, broke the Guinness World Record by identifying 34 Taylor Swift songs in under a minute. The challenge involved listening to a person reading lyrics with an eye mask on to ensure fairness. Jhandir’s video, shot in September 2023, recently had its results verified, dethroning the previous record holder, Dan Simpson, who identified 27 Swift songs in 2019.

This achievement adds to Jhandir’s existing world records; he holds titles for identifying the most animals from their sounds in a minute (23) and recognizing the most Justin Bieber songs from lyrics in a minute (29). Notably, he practised for 13 weeks leading up to the official Taylor Swift song identification test.

Jhandir, a self-proclaimed Belieber, expressed his admiration for Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” era, with his favourite song being the bonus track “You’re Losing Me” from “Midnights.” Despite challenges, including social media claims that breaking the record is “easy-peasy,” Jhandir remains open to attempting to beat his own record if someone surpasses his score. Swift holds a significant fanbase at his university in Pakistan, and Jhandir dreams of meeting her or attending one of her Eras tour stops.