Metal by numbers: Revisiting the uneven distribution of heavy metal music

Conventional wisdom suggests, and scholarship confirms, that the distribution of heavy metal music across the world is uneven. Previous studies show there are more metal bands per capita in Europe and North America than in other regions, but it is not clear what country-level factors explain that distribution. Drawing on data from the Encyclopaedia Metallum, I replicate a 2014 study and find weak support to connect heavy metal and religion, legal history and other social factors. In this article, I present an alternative model to explain the distribution of metal bands and show that wealth and political freedom are highly predictive of metal music, not only across the world, but also within regions.