Photos: Courtesy of Roc Nation, Aidan Zamiri, YouTube, Anson Tong, Hublot
It’s clearly a New York City summer. Maybe that’s a bit literal for us at The FADER since we live and work here, but New York City has been on a hot streak. From the Knicks long-sought championship win to JÄY-Z's return to performance at Yankee's stadium , the city has found itself at the forefront of global cultural conversation.
To that end, we here at the The FADER were curious to know what music, specifically, was soundtracking all of the festivities. We reached out to Spotify and received some data on New Yorkers' listening habits this sunny season — from the songs that dominated the Knicks championship to the most-streamed tracks each of borough. What we found was fascinating differences in each of the City's five boroughs, reflecting the city's true diversity.
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Read on for some of the best data we received about what New Yorkers are listening to, and what New York-centric music non-New Yorkers are pressing play on.
Non-New Yorkers really love New York
Of the nearly 74K “New York Summer” playlists on Spotify, 75% of these playlists were created by non-New York listeners.
And who’s listening to these playlists? Montreal has streamed “New York Summer” playlists more than any other city this summer — followed by Amsterdam, Bogotá, Hamburg, and Toronto, per Spotify.
“Blue & Orange Everything” is N.Y.C.’s unofficial Knicks anthem
The Knicks won the NBA finals after 50 years in the wilderness, sparking city-wide euphoria and director Spike Lee to tour Brooklyn in a caravan like the Pope himself. It also led to major increases in streams for Knicks anthems.
These are the five songs people in New York City were listening to on Spotify after the Knicks’ championship victory on June 14:
"Blue and Orange Everything" by Skyzoo +35,000% vs. average
"Go NY Go (2012 Anniversary)" by Jesse Itzler +29,000% vs. average
"New York" by Fat Joe, Ja Rule & Jadakiss +4,000% vs. average
"Theme From New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra +1,500% vs. average
“Empire State of Mind” by JAŸ-Z & Alicia Keys +615% vs. average
During Mamdani’s celebratory Knicks parade on June 18, there was a 400% increase in streams of “Empire State of Mind” by JAŸ-Z & Alicia Keys on Spotify in New York.
New York City’s playlist is truly global
The tracks that are distinctly popular in New York City, as compared to other locales across the States, are notably new and global: top songs include K-pop, dembow, pure pop, House, and music from the possible queen of the 2026 summer, Slayyyyter, as well as, yes, Drake.
These are the songs that are most distinctly popular in New York City:
“Stick With You” by TOMORROW x TOGETHER
“PANTI Y COLALE 2.0” by El Alfa, De La Ghetto & Zion
“SS26” by Charli xcx
“Jamaican (Bam Bam)” by HUGEL & SOLTO (FR)
“New Bestie” by Drake
“SHE DID IT AGAIN (feat. Zara Larsson)” by Tyla & Zara Larsson
“Talk To You (feat. 54 Ultra)” by ANOTR & 54 Ultra
“Bring Your Love” by Madonna & Sabrina Carpenter
“Road Trips” by Drake
“DANCE…” by Slayyyter
Bronx reps the genre it gave the world
The FADER. Data from Spotify.
The Bronx’s listening is dominated by Latin music with Puerto Rico’s Omar Courtz with two songs in the Bronx’s list of most distinctly popular songs. Hip-hop is also still the soundtrack in the borough that birthed it, with the Bronx’s own A Boogie Wit da Hoodie having a song in the list, and Drake and Loe Shimmy’s “I’m Spent” making the cut. “In My Room” by Julia Wolf — who gained mainstream notoriety as a key part of Drake’s 2025 song “Dog House” — is also included.
Brooklyn loves K-pop and Kelela
Brooklyn loves K-pop: “3D” by BTS’s Bung Kook (and featuring Jack Harlow) and “Dream of Mine” by K-pop boyband Tomorrow x Together are featured among Brooklyn’s most distinctly popular tracks. The R&B revival is going strong with Kelela, Khelani, and Brandy on the list as well. And LA-based queer indie rock trio MUNA are here too, maybe buoyed by their epic run of underplays Musical Hall of Williamsburg this summer.
Manhattan is obsessed with Nigerian music
The FADER. Data from Spotify.
Afrobeat, and specifically Nigerian music, completely dominated Manhattan’s most distinctly popular songs. All of the artists included in New York City’s most densely populated and globally famous borough are from Nigeria. It’s a small surprise given that the City’s largest Nigerian enclaves are in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, according to Nigeria-focused outlet, The Guardian. Maybe then the major representation for Nigerian music is less a reflection of specific communities and more of the continued rise of the genre in the States.
Queens is filled with K-pop queens
The FADER. Data from Spotify.
Like Brooklyn, Queens loves K-pop” BTS, CORTIS, LE SSERAFIM, KATSEYE, and ILLIT are all in the mix. The borough is home to the city’s largest Korean population with Queens home to over half of Korean New Yorkers. That said, K-pop is a true global phenomenon at this point, so its particular popularity likely has relatively little to do with Queens’s exact ethnic make-up. Other songs featured are by dreamy indie project The Marias and Gen Z jazz revivalist Laufey.
Staten Island and throwbacks just go together
The FADER. Data from Spotify.
Maybe it makes a bit of sense that the City’s most suburban Borough is hot on pop, with new indie crooner Malcolm Todd on their list of most popular, as well as some 2010s throwbacks via Mac Miller, Ty Dolla $ig, Katy Perry, and Arctic Monkeys.
