How Darude's “Sandstorm” took its name from a Roland synth's start-up preset, went from a kitchen PC and MP3.com to No. 3 in the UK, then became the internet's joke answer to “What song is this?”
Named by a preset. Now it names every song.
Facts
- “Sandstorm” is an instrumental by Finnish producer Darude (Ville Virtanen, from Eura). The demo began on a Pentium II PC in the kitchenette of his studio flat; producer Jaakko “JS16” Salovaara signed him as the first artist on his new label, 16 Inch Records, and they finished it in JS16's studio in 1999.
- The title came from a Roland JP-8080: its start-up patch was called “Sand Storm”, a factory preset (Preset 2, No. 11, which the factory User bank copies).
- 16 Inch released it in Finland on 26 October 1999, and Darude also put it on MP3.com. UK dance label Neo picked it up there, touted as the first independent track found through a file-sharing site – though Darude says they were also sent a vinyl.
- It reached No. 3 in the UK (Official Singles Chart, 18 June 2000), No. 1 in Norway (five weeks in 2000) and Canada (February 2001), and No. 3 in Finland, where it charted for 42 weeks. Sound On Sound counts Top 10 placings in 11 countries; in the US it went platinum in January 2020.
- On Twitch it became the joke answer to any “What song is this?”, and on April Fools' Day 2015 YouTube answered music searches with “Did you mean: Darude – Sandstorm”. Darude calls it “one of the best-known unknown tracks in the world”.
- Stadiums keep it alive too: South Carolina football made it an anthem after a 2009 upset of Ole Miss. In 2019 Darude represented Finland at Eurovision with “Look Away”, with singer Sebastian Rejman; it did not reach the final.
Sources
- Sound On Sound: Classic Tracks – Darude ‘Sandstorm’ (Tom Doyle, December 2020), page 1 · Sound On Sound checked 7 October 2026
- Sound On Sound: Classic Tracks – Darude ‘Sandstorm’ (Tom Doyle, December 2020), page 2 · Sound On Sound checked 7 October 2026
- ESPN: How a Finnish DJ created a ‘Sandstorm’ in the SEC and across the sports world (Dave Wilson, 28 Aug 2021) · ESPN checked 7 October 2026
- Roland JP-8080 Owner's Manual (pp. 126, 177) · Roland checked 7 October 2026
- Billboard: Batten Down the Hatches – Darude's ‘Sandstorm’ Just Turned 20 (Zel McCarthy, 30 Oct 2019) · Billboard checked 7 October 2026
- Wikipedia: Sandstorm (instrumental) · Wikipedia checked 7 October 2026
- MP3.com: Darude artist page (Internet Archive capture, 11 May 2000) · MP3.com checked 7 October 2026
- Official Charts: Official Singles Chart, 18–24 June 2000 · Official Charts checked 7 October 2026
- norwegiancharts.com: Darude – Sandstorm, VG-lista (Internet Archive capture, 9 Mar 2026) · norwegiancharts.com checked 7 October 2026
- finnishcharts.com: Darude – Sandstorm, Finnish singles chart (Internet Archive capture, 13 Apr 2025) · finnishcharts.com checked 7 October 2026
- Billboard, 24 February 2001: Hits of the World – Canada (SoundScan) · Billboard checked 7 October 2026
- The Independent: YouTube adds a ‘Darude Sandstorm’ button to all videos (Christopher Hooton, 2 Apr 2015) · The Independent checked 7 October 2026
All sound is original: synthesised for the episode, no samples, no licensed tracks. The narrator’s voice is AI-generated. General information. Features differ by software, player and version – check your own manual. Read how facts are checked and corrected.
Script
Finland, 1999. A synth screen reads: Sand Storm. Darude's demo began on a Pentium II PC in his kitchen. Producer JS16 signed him as his new label's first artist. In JS16's studio, that synth's startup patch named it. Out that October. On MP3.com, UK label Neo picked it up. June 2000: No. 3 in the UK. Then No. 1 in Norway and Canada. Yet Darude calls it one of the best-known unknown tracks in the world. On Twitch it became the joke answer to every “What song is this?” April Fools' 2015: YouTube asked, “Did you mean Darude – Sandstorm?” Named by a preset. Now it names every song.
Sources last checked 7 October 2026.