If you listen to pop music, you’ve likely heard , the most popular song in .
But head over to , and has -level popularity.
Generally, cities in the area around
Contrast that with the area surrounding , where there are different #1 songs in a 100 km radius.
The #1 hit in a particular region reflects the broader cultural edges of ’s geography, which has 4 different #1 songs.
The top song often changes when crossing international borders. km away from is , where is a number one hit.
The world is a musical cornucopia of ‘hits.’ Some songs are national exports, crossing cultural and linguistic boundaries. Others conform to their native country’s borders.
’s musical bubble is mirrored in other parts of the world. In , km away, is the same top song as , .
Remember: every song on these maps are massively popular in their respective geographies. They are the “basic” pop hits of a particular place.
is the hit of , a place where musical taste looks nothing like .
Same with , with a number of hits you’ve likely never heard of.
Or zoom over to for another unique pop music pattern.
And when you listen and talk about these songs, it’s not pop music if no one around you has heard of it.