New York City, NY – Quick. What’s the country music capital of the US? Did you say Nashville, Tennessee? Well, you’re wrong. That honor now falls to New York City , where more country CD’s are sold than in any other part of the nation.
Though New York Daily News notes that there isn’t a country music station to be had in the Big Apple, country music is far more popular there than anywhere else in the US. Country music icons like Kenny Chesney , Tim McGraw , and Taylor Swift owe the majority of their success to the residents of New York City, not Nashville. According to figures from Nielsen/SoundScan, New York City soundly beat the competition in the sales of twangy country music. Nashville, the assumed country capital, placed sixth in sales, with 20% fewer country CD purchases than New York City.
The simplest explanation for New York’s win in this arena? There’s more people there. “New York is the biggest market for everything, ” says Nielsen/SoundScan rep David Bakula. “It’s the driver of all sales.” It’s a cultural center for everything, including country music. Still, that doesn’t account for the massive growth in the country fan-base of the Big Apple, or how they were able to pass population-rival Los Angeles without even a single country radio station in the city.
Explaining that is Wade Jessen, a Billboard correspondent. According to him, people in New York City are stressed, and country music is a relaxor. “New York City is a very demanding place to live,” he says. “Country music is a great way to put the brakes on a lot of the noise in people’s lives.”
Country stars tend to tour more than their colleagues in other genres as well. And New York City sells out a lot of seats. With such heavy physical presence in the city, a country radio station might not be that far off. “When there is a country station, it will surprise people with how well it does,” said Sean Ross, an Edison Research analyst.
