The Midwest loves pop music and also Slipknot

Market intelligence and search startup My Telescope today announced new data highlighting the top music artists performing concerts in 2022. Hip-Hop artists tied with pop music as the dominant genre in the U.S., with rappers winning the top spot in 20 states. Grammy-winning artist Kendrick Lamar, whose latest album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers dropped this year to critical acclaim, was the most popular artist in eight different states.

Other highlights from the research include:

• Chicago trap rapper Lil Durk came in second to Kendrick Lamar as the most popular touring artist of 2022, winning in 5 states.
• While music genre representation was spread diversely across the country, hip-hop was the most prevalent genre in southern states, with Lil Durk appearing as the top searched artist in Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, North and South Carolina.
• New England had a heavy concentration of pop artists.
• The list of artists winning in 2 states include: Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Greta Van Fleet, Harry Styles, Jack Harlow, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Pitbull, Post Malone, and The Weeknd.
• California and New York's top artists were Latin artists Grupo Firme and Bad Bunny, respectively.
• Share of search shows hip-hop tied with pop for the most dominant music genre.
• Genre breakdown by number of states: Hip-Hop (20), Pop (20), Rock (4), Latin (3), Country (2), Indie (1)

The data highlights a state-by-state breakdown of the top artist or band, according to Google search volumes when users search for concert tickets. The artists are then ranked by Share of Search.

Share of Search is a marketing metric that measures the relative interest for a search term in relation to a defined set of search terms. Research has shown that there is a correlation between what we search for and a final outcome, and that Share of Search can often predict shifts in Share of Voice over time.

"Share of search is powerful in that it gives a more accurate measurement of consumer and business purchasing intent and demand," said Rodrigo Graviz, CEO of My Telescope. "Data can be geo-fenced by state or country to accurately reflect searching trends by geography. When combined with specific keywords, Share of Search data can give valuable insights on what people are going to do, what they think, how they feel, and what they're going to buy."