A few weeks ago, we reported on the top Pandora stations in New York City. In that article, I said I was curious to know what the top Pandora stations would be in other cities of the world. Lo and behold, I soon got my answer.
We received some data from Pandora on the top stations in one of the biggest cities on the West Coast, San Francisco. Here are the top stations for a few neighborhoods in the city by the bay.
Potrero
Emo
Today's Christian Hits
Toddler
Polk/Russian Hill (Nob Hill)
Funk Jazz
Bachelor Party
Delta Blues
South Beach
Barbershop Quartet
Smooth Jazz
Hot Club Jazz
Soma
Love/Love
Classic Metal
Classic Hard Rock
Marina
Country Rock
Latin Pop Classics
Patriotic Country
Haight
Delta Blues
Radio for Kids
African
Chinatown
'80s New Wave/Punk
Trance
Pop Fitness
Castro/Noe/Mission
PRIDE Party
Salsa Puertorriquena
Standards/Vocal Jazz
North Beach/Chinatown
Country Rock
Standards/Vocal Jazz
Summer Oldies
Sunset
i-Pop
Country Rock
Hip Hop
Inner Richmond
Delta Blues
Dance
Doo-Wop
Hayes Valley/Tenderloin/North of Market
Morning Ragas
Funk Jazz
Gospel
Naturally, having the top Pandora stations in San Francisco and New York makes me want to compare and contrast the musical preferences of both cities. Just as San Francisco and New York are two very different cities, they don't seem to have much in common in terms of musical taste. The two lists had only three Pandora stations in common among all of the neighborhoods in the respective cities: Salsa Puertorriquena, i-Pop and Gospel.
In terms of the most common top stations from the neighborhood data provided, New Yorkers seem to love the Bachata Dominicana, Gospel and Salsa Puertorriquena stations the most, while San Franciscans enjoy Delta Blues and Country Rock.
However, if we look at another popular online music streaming service, Spotify, New Yorkers and Californians seem to be on the same page. While Spotify doesn't have data available on a city basis, you can see who the top artists are in each state daily from Jan. 1, 2014 to Oct. 14, 2014. The top artist for California and New York for October so far has been Sam Smith, with the exception of Oct. 5, 2014 when Californians listened to Ariana Grande the most. Who doesn't love the smooth, soulful stylings of this British crooner?
Last February, Spotify also released data on each state's "most distinctive" artist, which is that state's favorite artist relative to the other states. California's "most distinctive" artist is the British DJ Bonobo, whereas New York loves James Blake more than any other state. So apparently America's favorite artists aren't even American.
