Some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children's toys. Rolf Harris appeared for several years as the Stylophone's advertising spokesman in the United Kingdom.

The Stylophone appears on a few commercial recordings, most notably David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and "Slip Away" and the commercial rave single "Stylophonia" by Two Little Boys in 1991. Kraftwerk used the Stylophone on the track "Pocket Calculator" from their album Computer World.

The British duo Erasure also employed it on the single "Don't Say Your Love Is Killing Me" (from the album Cowboy in 1997) as well as on their 2000 album "Loveboat". In a lesser-known instance, the Stylophone is used for the bulk of Orbital's single, "Style".

Marilyn Manson made use of it for "You and Me and the Devil Makes 3". They Might Be Giants played the Stylophone in several of their songs, including a number on their 2007 album, The Else. Jon Spencer has used the Stylophone extensively on recordings with his band Blues Explosion, and has famously had problems bringing the device, described as "the world's most annoying musical instrument", through airport security.

Korn used the instrument on their seventh studio album, 2005's See You on the Other Side, during the introduction of its thirteenth track, "Seen It All".

The stylophone is also listed as being played by Jack White on the Raconteurs' 2008 album Consolers of the Lonely. While on tour in 2008, the Raconteurs' merchandise booths included Stylophones as something to be purchased by concert-goers.

Also in more modern times British band Los Campesinos! have used the stylophone in the song "Ways to Make It Through the Wall" on their latest album We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed.

The more versatile S30s version of the instrument was used by UK experimentalists Camberwell Now, and appeared on their album All's Well. The 350s dual-stylus version was also extensively used as a lead instrument by British band Pulp from 1992 to 1994.

Its glacial tones are particularly evident on their breakthrough album His 'n' Hers (most notably the songs "Happy Endings" and "Pink Glove") whilst the 1993 album, Intro, features a track called "Styloroc (Nights of Surburbia)" which revolves around a riff played on the first model.