Forget Wordle, Heardle is the new music version where you get six tries to guess the song

It’s time to face facts: Wordle just hasn’t hit right since The New York Times got their big, rich hands all over it. I don’t know what it is about it now, maybe it’s the placebo effect we’re all under where we think it suddenly got a lot harder once the big corporation got involved, but there’s a distinct absence of its January charm these days. We’ve had a million clones – Quordle, Worldle and Taylordle (yes, a Taylor Swift Wordle) to name but a few chasing its coattails. But there’s one that’s just landed that rises above the rest – enter: Heardle, the music guessing Wordle alternative that I have spent the last week obsessing over.

How do you play Heardle?

So, Heardle differs from the main crux of Wordle in that you aren’t trying to guess letters, but get to listen to a snippet of the intro to a song and have to then name the song and the artist. Every guess you get you get to hear a little bit more of the track. It’s reminiscent of a pub quiz music round – listen to the excerpt and then type your guess in. Like Wordle, the music version Heardle tracks your stats every day so you can keep a log of your streak and how many times you got it in one guess. Not to flex, but I’ve played four times and got it in one every time. My ego is through the roof, I tell you.

Unlike Wordle, the music version Heardle lets you skip to hearing more of the song as one of your tries – so you don’t have to put an answer in every time. Also, if you’re worried that there’s billions of songs in the universe and the chances of you knowing the one Heardle’s chosen are slim, don’t fear. The developers have said they chose the songs in the game from a list of Spotify’s most streamed tracks over the last 10 years, so chances are you’ll know what’s playing. For example, the last few days have included Halo by Beyoncé, Black Skinhead by Kanye West and Dreams by Fleetwood Mac.

Play Heardle here.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• It turns out that The New York Times hasn’t made Wordle harder, we’re just a bit stupid

• What the hell is Wordle, and why is Twitter full of people tweeting coloured squares?

• Someone actually worked out the Wordle algorithm and now they’re spoiling the answers for everyone