March 8th, 2024, Lesley Simeon
Some chirpy pop music to get the day going, a bit of death metal when the going gets too rough, a dash of country when the memories of lovers past knock uninvited and finally some R&B to unwind on the way back home. In this piece, we’re looking at the genres of music that people across countries bob their heads to the most.
Don’t stop, make it pop! Data from YouGov Global Profiles - which covers demographic, psychographic, attitudinal and behavioural consumer metrics with 1,000+ questions in 47 major markets – reveals that pop is the most popular genre in most countries, alongside rock.
Classical is also popular but again, the term means different things in different markets. Classical music is the most popular in markets including the UAE, India, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
Great Britain stands out in our list, with Brits favouring 80s/90s music the most, followed by pop and rock music.
Shakira would be proud – Columbians, along with Argentinians, place Latin music in the top spot, the only ones across markets to do so.
In India (where We Found Love hit-maker Rihanna recently performed at a lavish pre-wedding ceremony, to put it modestly) classical music clinches the top spot, followed by pop and country.
Soul music features in the top three in only Austria (at #2) and Switzerland (#2 again). Reggae music - a genre that has undoubtedly always lingered around but seems to be making its presence felt in mainstream music consumption strongly off-late - is the second most popular genre among Spaniards.
In the US, where more than half of the population says they are music lovers, rock is the top choice among music genres, followed by pop and good old country.
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Methodology: YouGov Global Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset with 1000+ questions across 48 markets. The data is based on continuously collected data from adults aged 16+ years in China and 18+ years in other markets. The sample sizes for YouGov Global Profiles will fluctuate over time, however the minimum sample size is always c.1000. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from India and UAE, which use urban representative samples, and China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, which use online representative samples. Learn more about Global Profiles.