Jukebox Project tracks most popular songs by zipcode

Jukebox Project tracks most popular songs by zipcode
Jukebox Project tracks most popular songs by zipcode

Jukebox Project tracks most popular songs by zipcode

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.
If you walk into a bar in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, there’s a good chance you’re going to hear “Number One Hit” by R. Kelly. Not your thing? Head a little northwest to Pilsen and you might get “Soy De Rancho” by El Komander. And maybe you want to end the night dancing. Boystown is a good bet for that and you’ll most likely hear “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston. It’s not just happenstance that those songs would be playing in those neighborhood jukeboxes — it’s compiled from actual data provided by the most popular vendor of jukeboxes in the country, TouchTunes. Wall Street Journal reporter Elliott Ramos took the data the company gave him, matched it with a zip code and found the city’s various playlists. Elliott joins us with story behind the project. Then, once we have a better sense of what patrons are picking at the jukebox, we talk about the person responsible for selecting what’s actually in there. Keith Lipinski curates the jukebox at Simon’s Tavern in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. (Flickr/Intel Free Press)