On his show this week, Kevin counted down the 15 countries with the most prog artists, based on the 600+ bands being played at Prog Radio.  He also played one song from the #1 artist from each of those countries.

Here is the full list from the Prog Radio Charts data.  Again, keep in mind, this is based on the number of bands, not necessarily the success or popularity of those bands, but it will still have a pretty good correlation.  

Also listed for the Top 15 countries, are the top artist from each country, along with their ranking overall in the Prog Radio Charts.

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#1 UK (33%) - Pink Floyd (#1)

#2 USA (21%) - Kansas (#6)

#3 Sweden (6%) - Opeth (#16)

#4 Germany (5%) - Can (#27)

#5 International (5%) - Transatlantic (#57) 

#6 Norway (4%) - Leprous (#62)

#7 Italy (4%) - PFM (#116)

#8 Canada (4%) - Rush (#2)

#9 Netherlands (4%) - Focus (#93)

#10 France (3%) - Klone (#159)

#11 Australia (2%) - Karnivool (#64)

#12 Finland (2%) - Wheel (#101)

#13 Poland (2%) - Riverside (#54)

#14 ukraine (1%) - Karfagen (#173)

#15 Greece (1%) - Vangelis (#36)

#16 Denmark (1%)

#17 Ireland (1%)

#18 Mexico (1%)

#19 Russia (1%)

#20 Spain (1%)

#21 Brazil (<1%)

#22 Argentina (<1%)

#23 Austria (<1%)

#24 Belgium (<1%)

#25 Chile  (<1%)

#26 Cuba  (<1%)

#27 Estonia (<1%)

#28 Iceland (<1%)

#29 India  (<1%)

#30 Israel  (<1%)

#31 Lebanon  (<1%)

#32 Luxembourg  (<1%)

#33 New Zealand  (<1%)

#34 Peru  (<1%)

#35 South Africa (<1%)

#36 Soviet Union (<1%)

#37 Switzerland (<1%)

#38 Vietnam (<1%)

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Some interesting take aways from this data:  
 

• The UK totally dominates! Not only in sheer number of bands (1 in every 3 prog band coming from the UK), but also the impact of those bands.  The UK has 6 of the Top 10 bands overall:  Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, Peter Gabriel, and Supertramp.  Not to mention bands like ELP, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Camel, Marillion, and on and on.
   

• Over half (54%) of all prog bands come from just two countries, the UK and USA.  70% from the the top 5 countries.  Almost 90% from the top 10 countries.
   

• I found this weird but interesting...of the top bands from each of the top 15 countries, ALL of them had one-word band names, except for Pink Floyd.  Weird, no?  (This assumes "PFM" vs the full name.)
  
   

To learn more about Prog Radio Charts, and where the data comes from, check out the Charts section of our FAQs.

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