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The most played music artists for UK cities - some may surprise you
| United Kingdom | general | ✓ Verified - bbc.com

The most played music artists for UK cities - some may surprise you

#Spotify #YouTube #music streaming #UK cities #regional music preferences #Oasis #Sam Fender #Taylor Swift

📌 Key Takeaways

  • Scotland showed exceptional love for reforming Oasis, more than even their home city Manchester
  • Newcastle broke national trends by favoring hometown artist Sam Fender over global superstars
  • Liverpool demonstrated particular affinity for female pop stars with multiple artists achieving top positions
  • A clear north-south divide emerged in music preferences across the UK
  • Local artists often achieved exceptional popularity in their hometowns

📖 Full Retelling

Spotify and YouTube analyzed 2025 streaming data across more than a dozen major UK cities, revealing surprising variations in music preferences as residents in Scotland demonstrated exceptional love for Oasis while Newcastle embraced hometown hero Sam Fender, with Liverpool showing particular affinity for female pop stars. The comprehensive breakdown of listening habits across the UK's biggest cities showed clear regional patterns and local favorites, with Taylor Swift and Drake dominating Spotify charts nationwide except in Newcastle where Fender broke their stranglehold, while Eminem emerged as the YouTube champion across most locations. The data highlighted how music tastes often reflect local identity and cultural connections, with numerous artists achieving exceptional popularity in their hometowns while revealing a distinct north-south divide in certain preferences, particularly noticeable with Oasis's massive following in Scotland compared to their absence from southern English charts. Beyond the mainstream hits, the analysis uncovered numerous surprise packages including local producers breaking through in unexpected cities and international artists finding particular resonance in specific UK locations, demonstrating how streaming data can reveal nuanced cultural insights beyond national trends.

🏷️ Themes

Music streaming analytics, Regional cultural identity, Popular music trends

📚 Related People & Topics

Oasis

Oasis

Fertile area in a desert environment

In ecology, an oasis (; pl.: oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment that sustains plant life and provides habitat for animals. Surface water may be present, or water may only be accessible from wells or underground channels created by humans. In geography, an oasis may be a...

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Spotify

Spotify

Swedish audio streaming service

# Spotify **Spotify** is a Swedish-American audio streaming and media services provider. Founded in April 2006 by **Daniel Ek** and **Martin Lorentzon**, the platform has evolved into one of the world's most prominent digital music services. ### Operations and Reach As of September 2025, Spotify m...

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YouTube

YouTube

Video-sharing platform

YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, who were former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, it is the second-most-visited website in the world, after Google ...

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Sam Fender

Sam Fender

English singer-songwriter (born 1994)

Samuel Thomas Fender (born 25 April 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in North Shields, Fender released several singles independently beginning in 2017. His sound relies primarily on his traditional American musical upbringing combined with a British rock sensibil...

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List of cities in the United Kingdom

List of cities in the United Kingdom

This is a list of cities in the United Kingdom that are officially designated as such as of 29 August 2022. It lists those places that have been granted city status by letters patent or royal charter. There are currently 76 such cities in the United Kingdom: 55 in England, eight in Scotland, seven i...

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Entity Intersection Graph

Connections for Oasis:

👤 Mariah Carey 1 shared
👤 Shakira 1 shared
👤 Lauryn Hill 1 shared
🌐 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1 shared
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Original Source
Scotland's mad for Oasis, Newcastle loves Sam Fender: Music tastes where you live revealed 9 hours ago Share Save Ian Youngs Culture reporter Share Save Oasis are big in Manchester, but even bigger in Scotland. Newcastle is wild for homegrown guitar hero Sam Fender, and Liverpool can't get enough of female pop stars. These are some of the revelations from a breakdown of listening habits on Spotify and YouTube in 2025 in more than a dozen of the UK's biggest cities. Taylor Swift and Drake were the clear winners on Spotify - except in Newcastle, where Fender broke their stranglehold. He was one of several artists to prove particularly popular in their hometown, while there was a clear north-south divide in Oasis's popularity as they reformed. Eminem dominated YouTube in 2025, ahead of the KPop Demon Hunters singers and Ed Sheeran - with Taylor, Drake and other pop giants also among the most played artists. But a number of surprises emerged from the lists, too. Here are the rankings for each of the featured cities: Belfast There's a lot of love for Lady Gaga in Northern Ireland's capital - she was the second most popular artist of 2025 on YouTube in Belfast, higher than in any other UK city. She was pipped to number one by the stars of KPop Demon Hunters , with Eminem in third. The rapper missed YouTube's top spot in just two of the 14 featured cities (the other being Nottingham). Belfast's most played artists on YouTube: KPop Demon Hunters cast Lady Gaga Eminem Taylor Swift Bruno Mars Ed Sheeran Rihanna Sabrina Carpenter Calvin Harris EJAE Surprise package: Belfast trance producer Billy Gillies was just outside the top 10, in 12th, and had two tracks in the city's top 20 songs of the year on YouTube - DNA (Loving You) at 10 and Right Here All Along at 17. NB Spotify did not provide data for Belfast. Birmingham Drake is the most-played artist on Spotify in Birmingham, and it is the only place outside London to also have his rival Kendrick Lamar in its top five. Brummie...
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