What are the most-played songs on Arizona jukeboxes?
On its own, the music of your neighborhood watering hole may not seem like much, especially considering the likelihood that every bar in America has that drunk person who always plays “Don’t Stop Believing.”
But add up all those playlists, and you get the flavor of an entire region, checkered with unique, surprising trends.
We did the adding for you, by collecting data from TouchTunes musical jukeboxes.
How we did it
TouchTunes is featured in more than 71,000 bars and restaurants across North America and Europe and has a database of hundreds of thousands of songs, from oldies to new releases and world beats to Top 40.
TouchTunes shared data with azcentral.com on its most popular songs and artists from June 2014 through May 2015 in every zip code in Maricopa County, as well as parts of downtown Flagstaff and Tucson.
The map isn’t a perfect representation of the region – most TouchTunes jukeboxes are in bars and restaurants (think Applebee’s and Hooters), though there are a few American Legion posts, an Air Force base and many Waffle Houses. Some zip codes have few, one or no jukeboxes.
Listen to the playlist(Caution: some songs contain cursing)
The Highlights
The power of cowboy boots and synchronized dance is strong in Arizona
The 1988 country-metal song “Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle showed up on the map with stunning popularity. Wondering why?
Consult Google: A search for “Copperhead Road” suggests “line dance,” which leads to many videos detailing just how to stomp your boots in time to the song’s hardcore harmonica.
It was was the No. 1 most-played song in downtown Flagstaff and Wickenburg, as well as in parts of north Phoenix and Glendale.
College students have “Friends in Low Places”
When the 1990 hit by Garth Brooks is consistently one of the top-three songs played near Arizona’s three state universities, you know they’ve gone country.
Around Arizona State University, some of the top songs are “Play It Again” by Luke Bryan and “Amarillo by Morning” by George Strait. Drake makes an appearance, as well as Miley Cyrus’s “Party In The U.S.A.”
After “Copperhead Road” and “Friends In Low Places,” Northern Arizona University is fairly diverse: the top songs belong to Journey, Big Sean, Old Crow Medicine Show and Taylor Swift. The top artists are AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Metallica.
But the most country is the University of Arizona, where zip code 85719 is dominated by “Burnin’ It Down” by Jason Aldean, “Drink In My Hand” by Eric Church and other songs by George Strait and Blake Shelton.
The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com love Kanye West
OK, not The Republic specifically, but our zip code of 85004 is the only one in the Valley where Kanye West is the No. 1 most-played artist.
The reason for his success? “Flashing Lights,” which truly is a perfect “I’m drinking a classy bev in a big city” song.
Waffle House + TouchTunes = Brilliant
Waffle House has it going on lately. Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen hung out at the one at 59th Avenue and Interstate 10 in Phoenix after the Super Bowl this year.
Also, it seems someone at Waffle House corporate did the math that greasy food + open 24 hours = late-night party people, and they could only benefit from adding jukeboxes. Genius!
All 12 Waffle Houses in the Phoenix area are home to TouchTunes jukeboxes. Now, go put on some Kanye!
Midtown Phoenix has split personalities
The zip codes that overlap with the Central Avenue corridor, which follows Valley Metro Rail between McDowell and Camelback roads, have a bit of an identity crisis.
Pop music dominates 85012, which stretches east of Central to Seventh Street between Thomas Road and Glendale Avenue. No. 1 is “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry, followed by Beyonce’s “Partition,” Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” and Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.”
One step west of Central into 85013 and it goes country. The area stretching to 15th Avenue’s No. 1 song is “Troubadour” by George Strait, and the top 10 includes Dwight Yoakam, Zac Brown Band and the ever-popular “Copperhead Road.”
Luke Air Force Base loves Billy Idol
Club Five Six is the base’s restaurant, sports bar and nightclub in one. Decorated with a “military heritage” theme, it has photos of aircraft on the walls, a piano in the corner, and a jukebox for those rowdy airmen.
Apparently, they’re all wild for Billy Idol. Idol’s “Rebel Yell” is their No. 1 song and “White Wedding (Parts 1 & 2)” is No. 3.
Maryvale: The lone Spanish island
Apart from a zip code where the No. 1 song – “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy – is somehow classified as “world music,” the only zip codes where world music reigns supreme are in the Maryvale neighborhood of west Phoenix.
The zip codes (85031 and 85033) share seven of the same top 10 most-played artists: Laberinto, Vicente Fernandez, Roberto Tapia, Gerardo Ortiz, Chalino Sanchez, Voz De Mando and El Komander.
The most-outrageous-music award goes to...
The zip code just west of Grand Canyon University is home to what is hands down the strangest song on the entire Maricopa County list: “I F--ked Sasquatch” by Seething F--k Patties.
Also in the zip code’s top 10 songs are “Drunk on a Plane” by Dierks Bentley, “Crazy B---h” by Buckcherry, and “Drink a Beer” by Luke Bryan.
Get wild in Ahwatukee with Ginuwine
The No. 1 song in the northern swath of Ahwatukee Foothills is “Pony” by Ginuwine, a 1996 R&B hit that re-emerged in the movie “Magic Mike” and this year’s “Magic Mike XXL.” In fact, it’s the only place in the Valley Ginuwine makes an appearance.
No. 2 is “Pimp Juice” by Nelly, and No. 5 is “Wiggle” by Jason Derulo. And in south Ahwatukee, the No. 1 song is “Cupid Shuffle” by Cupid and the top artist is Beyonce.
Sounds like some “we got a babysitter, let’s dance” music to us.
The Valley’s most-played artists as a whole are the same as the U.S.
The artists that showed up on our most-played artist lists time and time again across the Valley are exactly the same as in the U.S. on TouchTunes’ 2014 year-end charts: Luke Bryan, AC/DC, Eric Church, Jason Aldean, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, Johnny Cash, the Rolling Stones, George Strait and Metallica.
So although we may be oddballs here and there, overall, we fit in pretty well.