National Anthems – new research into musical tastes

Cambridge, England – With its catalogue of more than 11 million tracks, Ovi Music provides a rich mine of information with which to analyse national music tastes from countries across the globe. In a study undertaken for Ovi Music by Dr. Matthew Woolhouse of the University of Cambridge, more than 1.6 million downloads from 13 countries were studied to create the Psychology of Music report.

The report found that the most popular day for people to download music is Saturday, which accounts for 16 per cent of all downloads. The second most popular day, more surprisingly, is Monday. When it comes to time of day, 8.00pm is our most musical hour, it seems.

As you would expect, the report finds that our favourite styles of music vary considerably across the world. It seems that downloaders in the UK, Brazil, South Africa and Germany love rock, while in Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey, pop rules. In Mexico, latin music comes top, and Russia is a nation of rap lovers. The Finns, however, have a ‘guilty pleasure’ in the form of country & western music.

Looking at all the different musical tastes unearthed in the research, our music psychologist created some suggested personality profiles for the countries surveyed. Here are some nuggets for you:

The Brazilians could be described as confident and creative, while the Brits are outgoing, creative and moderately hard-working.

The Germans’ music tastes may suggest they have high self-esteem and are hard working, while the Italians are both outgoing and gentle.

Malaysians and Singaporeans could be described as confident with a calm manner, and in Mexico, we see music downloads telling us that the nation may have a strong work ethic and high self-esteem.

South African music downloads suggest that it is a mild mannered, outgoing nation with high self-esteem, while over in Sweden, the research suggests a nation of gentle people who are diligent at their jobs. When it comes to being social and confident, music tastes in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey suggests that they are the people you’d love to know.

So are you a national stereotype when it comes to music or do you fly in the face of fashion? Let us know.