What do smart college students listen to? U2!

Music That Makes You Dumb Chart

A music news website, Consequence Of Sound, has just reported on a study involving colleges and universities. In the article “Smart people listen to Radiohead and dumb people listen to Beyoncé, according to study,” Alex Young reviews the data gleaned by the “Music That Makes You Dumb” project in which SAT scores from 1,352 institutions of higher ed were correlated to the favorite music groups/performers as reported by Facebook. While not exactly scientific, this study does provide a snapshot of collegiate listening habits. And for U2 fans, the news is good! (Note: the data seem to be from about five years ago.)

  • The top two rock groups are Counting Crows and U2
  • The top two indie acts are Sufjan Stevens and Guster
  • The top two alternative artists are Radiohead and Beck

Does listening to these groups make you smarter? Probably not. But there does seem to be a proportionally higher interest by those college students with upper-end SAT scores in our favorite band, so you’re in good company.

(c) Neufeld/@U2, 2014.