When you think of the biggest cities for metal, which ones come to mind? If you’re a concert booker, the largest markets (New York, Philly, Chicago, Boston) probably come to mind. If you think historically, there are many cities that have spawned metal scenes, like Athens GA, Richmond VA or Austin TX. However, Amazon today unveiled their first-ever “Cities That Rock” list, a per capita assessment of Amazon MP3, CD and vinyl sales in the top 100 markets. Surprisingly, the city that topped the list was Miami.
It’s a little odd that Miami, which is much more of a Latin American city than a “rock” one would take the top spot. Given that Tampa is the death metal capital of the world and Jacksonville spawned Limp Bizkit (ugh), Cold (ugh) and Evergreen Terrace, there are more metal cities in Florida alone. Yet more people bought metal via Amazon in Miami than anywhere else. In fact, Miami also too the top slot for Latin music (unsurprising), dance and children’s music than anywhere else. In terms of Rock, Pittsburgh is the biggest city (and #2 on the list overall).
Here are the top 20 cities for music purchases, according to Amazon:
1. Miami, FL
2. Pittsburgh, PA
3. Orlando FL
4. Salt Lake City, UT
5. St. Louis, MO
6. Cincinnati, OH
7. Seattle, WA
8. Ann Arbor, MI
9. Richmond, VA
10. Atlanta, GA
