Monday Night Music-- What Do People Like Best In Different Places?

OK, so the best selling musical act from Kansas is the band Kansas. How hard would that have been to guess? Or Phish in Vermont? Or that it's Chicago in Illinois (remember them)? And native daughter Madonna in Michigan-- at least it wasn't Nugent or Kid Rock-- and, sadly, the Eagles in California and Prince in Minnesota and Michael Jackson in Indiana. And Mississippi? Well, Elvis of course. How cool is Hawaii, though? Bruno Mars! And Nevada? No, not Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra or even Celine Dionne-- The Killers!

What about total squaresville? Maybe Florida is being punished because of its affinity top the Backstreet Boys. I never heard the Mannheim Steamroller until just now, but that's the top band in Nebraska. I'm never going there-- never.



Iowans like Andy Williams and Idahoans dig that secret Paul Revere and the Raiders neo-Nazi backward masking messaging. And-- wow!-- Hootie and the Blowfish are still top dog in South Carolina. In Washington state, it's always time for Kenny G. Between NY, NJ, Connecticut and Pennsylvania who's worst, respectively, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael Bolton or Taylor Swift. No comment on Ohio. And in the state where they just elected Dick Cheney's crackpot daughter to Congress... Spencer Bohren.

I remember, when I worked at Sire and Texas was ground zero for breaking Book of Love, Erasure and Depeche Mode.



They sure flipped blue to red! The big enchilada down in the Lone Star State is now George Strait. Ever hear Portugal, the Man? That's what Sarah Palin rocks out to when she's buzzing around the house on meth.



But the biggest winner of all-- and the most shocking for me-- is North Dakota's choice. No comment on the musical worthiness, but Wiz Khalifa's video, the one just below has over 3 BILLION views on YouTube. 3 BILLION! The biggest Beatles song is Don't Let Me Down and it only has 88,392,026 YouTube views. They'll never get to 3 billion!



Any better in England? Well there's a map like the one above for every borough in London and who the biggest selling musical act is:

It seems more relatable, at least for me. And, like in the U.S. it seems to be mostly driven by who comes from the places:

Ronnie Wood – Hillingdon
Elton John – Harrow
George Michael – Barnet
Amy Winehouse – Enfield
Iron Maiden – Formed by Steve Harris in Waltham Forest, where Harris was born
Dire Straits – Formed in Lewisham
Led Zeppelin – Formed in Bexley where John Paul Jones was born
Coldplay – Formed at UCL in Islington
David Bowie – Lambeth
Jools Holland – Greenwich
Rod Stewart – Camden
Billy Bragg – Barking and Dagenham
Kathy Kirby – Redbridge
Ian Drury – Raised in Havering
Professor Green – Hackney
Dizzee Rascal – Tower Hamlets
Jay Sean – Brent
Dusty Springfield – Raised in Ealing
The Kinks – Formed in Haringey
Linda Lewis – Newham
Billy Idol – Raised in Bromley