Paris classed ‘world’s third most musical city’ in new ranking

Study looked at the influence of famous musicians, the number of music schools, record labels, music shops, and frequency of world tours

A young musician plays the accordion on the Love Locks Pont des Arts bridge next to a guitar
Paris has come out as the third most musical city in the world according to a new ranking
Hannah Thompson
Published Last updated

Paris is the world’s third “most musical city” when it comes to culture and events, a new study has found, with the French capital coming in behind London in first place, and New York in second.

The study by second-hand cultural product website Momox compared several factors across 30 worldwide cities to produce its ranking.

The criteria included:

  • The influence of the most famous musicians
  • The number and influence of music schools
  • The percentage of artistic jobs
  • The number of record labels
  • The frequency of world tour stops
  • The number of record shops.

London came out on top, due to the [ongoing] influence of British artists such as Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and Amy Winehouse, as well as the number of music schools and record labels.

New York was in second place due to its global influence, while Los Angeles came in fourth place.

Paris took the final, third spot on the podium because of the number of music shops, while it is also at sixth place for music schools alone.

Berlin also came in the top five, due to its high number of music industry jobs. Another European city, Stockholm in Sweden, came in at number 10.

The top 10 ranking was as follows:

  • London, United Kingdom
  • New York, US
  • Paris, France
  • Los Angeles, US
  • Berlin, Germany
  • Seoul, South Korea
  • Chicago, USA
  • Atlanta, USA
  • San Francisco, USA
  • Stockholm, Sweden

    • The full top 30 ranking can be seen on the Momox website here. Notable entries include Milan, Italy, in 26th place; San Juan in Puerto Rico, in 28th place; and Havana, Cuba, in 30th place.

    Famous US “music cities” Nashville, Detroit, and New Orleans came in 15th, 22nd and 25th place respectively.

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