NWOCHM - New Wave of Corporate Heavy Metal

A World Map of Metal Bands Per Capita

Maybe head-banging is a good way to stay warm? According to this map made by a Reddit user named “depo_,” the countries with the most metal bands per capita (shown above in bloody-red lacquering) are all frozen Nordic nations: Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and to a lesser degree Denmark. The data comes from Encyclopedia Metallum’s archive of metal bands (both active and inactive) and compares national counts to the population figures from the CIA. Finland is most metallic with 53.5 metal bands per 100,000 people, followed by Sweden and Norway tied at 27.2, and then Iceland at 22.7. By comparison, the U.S. and UK, where much of metal got its start, could only manage a paltry 5.5 and 5.2, respectively.