The No.1 YouTube Music Map

When The Pudding launched its Cultural Borders of Song map in 2018, it offered a compelling snapshot of global music tastes. But the map stalled in 2021 - and hasn't been updated since. For a truly up-to-date view, the new Cultural Borders map delivers a live glimpse of what the world is listening to right now.

Cultural Borders is an interactive map of global music trends. Click anywhere on the map to instantly see - and play - the most popular music video in that location, all without leaving the page. Powered by YouTube Charts data, the map tracks the most viewed videos across around 4,700 locations worldwide, from major cities to smaller sub-regions.

The map features four main modes: Tracks, Artists, Discover and Languages. Tracks colours each territory by its current #1 song, making it easy to spot where tastes align across borders. Artists applies the same idea to performers, revealing which artists dominate in different regions. Discover surfaces the most locally distinctive track per territory - these are songs that barely chart anywhere else. Languages, meanwhile, shows the dominant language across each territory’s Top 20.

If you are interested in what the world is listening to right now, or if you only want to know who is currently the most popular artist in New York, then Cultural Borders could be your new jam. The map offers a real-time pulse of global musical tastes - all of which you can explore and listen to simply by clicking on the map.