Scotland’s mad for Oasis, Newcastle loves Sam Fender: Music tastes where you live revealed

Oasis are big in Manchester, but even bigger in Scotland. Newcastle is wild for homegrown guitar hero Sam Fender, and Liverpool can’t get enough of female pop stars.

These are some of the revelations from a breakdown of listening habits on Spotify and YouTube in 2025 in more than a dozen of the UK’s biggest cities.

Taylor Swift and Drake were the clear winners on Spotify – except in Newcastle, where Fender broke their stranglehold.

He was one of several artists to prove particularly popular in their hometown, while there was a clear north-south divide in Oasis’s popularity as they reformed.

Eminem dominated YouTube in 2025, ahead of the KPop Demon Hunters singers and Ed Sheeran – with Taylor, Drake and other pop giants also among the most played artists.

But a number of surprises emerged from the lists, too. Here are the rankings for each of the featured cities:

Belfast

There’s a lot of love for Lady Gaga in Northern Ireland’s capital – she was the second most popular artist of 2025 on YouTube in Belfast, higher than in any other UK city.

She was pipped to number one by the stars of KPop Demon Hunters, with Eminem in third. The rapper missed YouTube’s top spot in just two of the 14 featured cities (the other being Nottingham).

Belfast’s most played artists on YouTube:

Surprise package: Belfast trance producer Billy Gillies was just outside the top 10, in 12th, and had two tracks in the city’s top 20 songs of the year on YouTube – DNA (Loving You) at 10 and Right Here All Along at 17.

NB Spotify did not provide data for Belfast.

Birmingham

Drake is the most-played artist on Spotify in Birmingham, and it is the only place outside London to also have his rival Kendrick Lamar in its top five.

Brummie fans are the most devoted to US R&B singer Chris Brown – it’s the only place to put him in its top 10 on Spotify (at nine), and also gives him his highest YouTube placing (at eight).

D-Block Europe are big in Birmingham, too – the London-based hip-hop duo are second only to Eminem on the list of the year’s most-played artists on YouTube, and it’s also the only city to have them in its Spotify top 20 (at 15).

Birmingham’s most played artists on Spotify:

Birmingham’s most played artists on YouTube:

Surprise packages: A string of Indian singers are bigger than many Western superstars on YouTube in Birmingham – Alka Yagnik was the third most popular act of 2025 overall with more than 7.5 million views in the city (above Ed Sheeran and Drake).

Shake It To The Max by Ghanaian singer Moliy and Jamaican producer Silent Addy was also massive – it was the third most viewed track of the year on YouTube, higher than in any of the other featured locations.

Bristol

The tastes of fans on Spotify and YouTube differ a lot, judging by their charts. As in many cities, Taylor Swift was most popular on Spotify in Bristol, while Eminem topped the YouTube list.

Bristol’s listeners are, according to these rankings, the biggest fans of Olivia Dean outside her home city London, placing her ninth on the Spotify chart.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: It’s the only place with any of BTS star Jung Kook‘s songs in the top 20 Spotify tracks, and he has two (3D at number 13 and Seven at number 18).

Cardiff

As well as being number one on YouTube, Eminem was more popular on Spotify in the Welsh capital than in any other city, in ninth.

Ed Sheeran is third on YouTube, behind KPop Demon Hunters, and also has his highest Spotify ranking, in 11th in Cardiff.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: It was big everywhere, but Benson Boone’s Beautiful Things had its joint highest ranking on YouTube in Cardiff (in third), and the city was the only place to put the song in its Spotify top 10 tracks (at 10) in 2025.

Edinburgh

As Oasis reunion fever gripped the nation last year, Scotland went particularly mad fer it. The band were in the top five most-played acts on both Spotify and YouTube in both Edinburgh and Glasgow – higher than anywhere else, including their home city of Manchester.

Edinburgh also likes its pop – it’s the only city with Chappell Roan in its top 10 on Spotify, while superstar DJ David Guetta was higher on YouTube than anywhere else. Edinburgh and Glasgow are also the only cities to put Gracie Abrams in their Spotify top 20s.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Hard rock band Disturbed‘s brooding 2015 cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence was just outside the top 10 most played songs on YouTube (in 11th).

Glasgow

Taylor Swift reigns on Spotify (again), while Glasgow gives Tate McRae her highest placing.

It’s also the only city where Scotland’s superstar DJ Calvin Harris makes it into both the YouTube (11th) and Spotify (18th) lists.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Scotland, it seems, is keen on country music – Glasgow is the only place with US superstar Zach Bryan in its Spotify top 10. Edinburgh is the only other UK city with him in its top 20, in 14th place.

Leeds

In the absence of their own home town heroes (sorry Kaiser Chiefs), Leeds listeners are big on other northern acts – it’s the only place outside Newcastle to have Sam Fender and the only place outside Sheffield to have the Arctic Monkeys in the Spotify top 10 (Oasis are also not far behind in 14th).

Over on YouTube, D-Block Europe are big in Leeds – second to Eminem overall – their joint highest placing, alongside Birmingham.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise packages: Chrystal‘s infectious The Days was a big hit, but nowhere bigger than in Leeds, where it was the third most played song of the year on YouTube with a million plays – closely followed by her collaboration with MK, Dior, at number four.

Liverpool

Liverpool fans can’t get enough of female pop stars, judging by these lists. Taylor Swift is top on Spotify, while Billie Eilish gets her joint highest position in fourth, and Ariana Grande gets her highest at number nine.

Just outside the top 10, it’s also Lady Gaga‘s joint highest Spotify placing (at 11) and Lana Del Rey‘s best position of any UK city (at 12).

Meanwhile, rising British star Skye Newman was particularly popular on YouTube in Liverpool. She had two songs in the platform’s top tracks of 2025 – Family Matters at eight and Hairdresser at 20.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Liverpool rapper Mazza L20 has crashed the YouTube top 10 in his home city above some global superstars. Real name Malcolm Graham, he was jailed in 2016 for possessing a handgun, before gaining attention online with viral hits like Murdaside.

London

Taylor Swift was the most-played artist on Spotify in the UK overall, but Drake beat her to number one in the capital, while Olivia Dean and SZA were also more popular than the national average.

Meanwhile, London was the only city to put Justin Bieber and Beyoncé in the Spotify top 20 (19th and 20th respectively).

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Arijit Singh, one of India’s biggest playback singers, was the second most popular musician of the year on YouTube in London. Singh, who released a duet with Ed Sheeran last year, racked up more than 40 million views in the capital, where he headlined a show at Tottenham Hotspur stadium in September.

Manchester

Behind the big North American beasts (led by Drake and Taylor Swift, again), Manchester’s (arguably) favourite musical sons Oasis were on repeat in their home city, being the fifth most played act overall on Spotify.

That’s their highest placing except for the Scottish cities – but the Gallagher brothers were absent from the lists in the south of England (London, Bristol and Southampton).

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: The surprise is that Manchester seemingly went less KPop Demon Hunters crazy than elsewhere – the cast are absent from the top 10 YouTube artists (at 12th), and smash hit Golden only makes eighth, its lowest placing in any of the YouTube top songs charts.

Newcastle

Tyneside’s local hero Sam Fender isn’t just big in the north-east, he’s absolutely massive.

The “Geordie Springsteen” played two huge hometown shows at St James’ Park last summer and was the second most played artist on Spotify, behind the unmovable Taylor Swift. Beside Swift, he’s the only person to have beaten Drake anywhere.

What’s more, Fender has four songs in Newcastle’s top 20 Spotify tracks of the year – People Watching (number two), Seventeen Going Under (11), Arm’s Length (15) and Hypersonic Missiles (16). None of his songs made the top 20 anywhere else.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Scottish dance producer Blair Muir‘s track Rehab hasn’t troubled the main UK charts, but was the 10th most played song of the year on YouTube in Newcastle.

Nottingham

Nottingham loves KPop Demon Hunters – the film’s cast kept Eminem off the YouTube number one spot. The rap legend is a lowly third, behind Bruno Mars.

Meanwhile on Spotify, fans in Nottingham were the only listeners outside London, Birmingham and Manchester to have played Drake more than Taylor Swift, and gave SZA her highest placing beyond London.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: This is the only city to have preferred Soda Pop by Kpop Demon Hunters’ Saja Boys to Golden by their rivals Huntr/x, judging by their YouTube play counts. Soda Pop was second on Nottingham’s list of most-played songs, with Golden fourth.

Sheffield

Arctic Monkeys are another act to get a big hometown boost, coming fourth on the most-played list on Spotify, despite not having released an album or played live for a couple of years.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Birmingham producer and DJ Denon Reed, who is “leading the revival of bassline”, is in the top 10 most played acts on YouTube in Sheffield – the only city where he features.

Southampton

Southampton is the only city with Coldplay in its Spotify top 10, and also the only place with Bruno Mars in the service’s top 20 (at 19).

Billie Eilish gets her joint highest Spotify ranking in Southampton, along with Liverpool. And it’s one of only two cities to have her in their YouTube top 10, along with Bristol. She’s big in port cities, clearly.

Spotify:

YouTube:

Surprise package: Reformed rap-metal behemoths Linkin Park are at nine on the YouTube list, their joint highest ranking (along with Newcastle).

And the UK overall…

Spotify:

YouTube:

The other biggest music streaming services, Apple Music and Amazon Music, did not have equivalent data available.