Genius

Overview

The Genius API exposes song lyrics, annotations, artists, albums, and the community’s rich annotation data. It’s OAuth-based: a client access token (free) covers search and read endpoints; user-scoped actions (saving songs, following) need the full OAuth flow.

Note (verified 2026-08): requests without a token return HTTP 401 — you need a free client access token from genius.com/api-clients.

Quick Start

Search songs (replace YOUR_TOKEN):

curl "https://api.genius.com/search?q=bohemian%20rhapsody" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Song details:

curl "https://api.genius.com/songs/378160" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Artist details and songs:

curl "https://api.genius.com/artists/16775" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
curl "https://api.genius.com/artists/16775/songs?per_page=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Web page of a song (metadata extraction):

curl "https://genius.com/songs/378160"

Authentication

• Register an app at genius.com/api-clients → get a client access token (free, instant).
• Send it as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN.
• Full OAuth flow (user token) unlocks user-scoped endpoints.
• Note: the raw lyrics text is not in the JSON — fetch the song’s web page (genius.com/songs/{id}) and parse it (community practice).

Rate Limits & Notes

• Rate limits are per-token; the free tier is modest — cache responses.
• Search results include full_title, primary_artist, header_image_url, and path (page slug).
• text_format=plain trims HTML from description fields.
• The API docs are interactive (docs.genius.com) — try endpoints there.

FAQ

Is Genius API free? Yes — free client access token for search/read endpoints.

Do I need OAuth? A client token covers reads; full OAuth is only for user-scoped actions.

How do I get the actual lyrics? The JSON has metadata, not raw lyrics — fetch the song page and parse it.