CBS News asks: What is America's favorite music genre?
Country and rock are America's favorite music genres, according to a recent CBS News Poll. With country registering as the favorite for 21% of poll respondents and rock 18%, the three-percent difference is within the poll's margin of error.
They are followed by popular music (14%), classical (10%), R&B or soul (9%), hip hop or rap (7%), jazz (7%), and Christian or gospel music (5%).
According to the poll, men have a slight preference for rock, while women prefer country and pop music. There are age differences, too. Americans under 65 are split, but for those 65 and older rock comes in fourth place (at 8%), behind country (33%), classical (16%), and popular music (12%).
And while white Americans prefer country (26%) and rock (21%) as their top two choices, African Americans prefer R&B or soul (39%), followed by jazz (13%), and then rap or hip hop (9%).
What is Your Favorite Type of Music?
| Total |
| Men | Women |
| 18-64 | 65+ |
| White | Black | |
Country music | 21% |
| 18% | 24% | 18% | 33% | 26% | 7% | |||
Rock | 18 | 22 | 14 | 20 | 8 | 21 | 2 | ||||
Popular music | 14 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 8 | ||||
Classical | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 7 | ||||
R&B / Soul | 9 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 39 | ||||
Hip hop / Rap | 7 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 9 | ||||
Jazz | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 13 | ||||
Christian / Gospel | 5 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
This poll was conducted by telephone January 10-14, 2018 among a random sample of 1,009 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Glen Mills, Pa. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones.
The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. For the landline sample, a respondent was randomly selected from all adults in the household. For the cell sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone.
Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish using live interviewers. The data have been weighted to reflect U.S. Census figures on demographic variables. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points. The error for subgroups may be higher and is available by request. The margin of error includes the effects of standard weighting procedures which enlarge sampling error slightly. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
