Blake Shelton No. 1 in Indiana? Think again

What began as a brilliant exercise in music analysis has caught fire as a misinterpreted online meme.

If you've seen a post labeled "Here's your state's favorite band" and then checked it out to find a map with Blake Shelton attached to Indiana, your experience doesn't give a clear picture of what Paul Lamere was shooting for when he created the map for the Echo Nest, a Massachusetts-based "research-focused music intelligence startup that provides music information services to developers and partners."

Lamere, the Echo Nest's director of developer community, crunched numbers from about 250,000 Spotify and Rdio listeners with the idea of exploring regional listening preferences.

DigitalMusicNews.com picked up the item and posted it as "A Map of the Most Distinctive Bands in America." Slate.com steered things in a different direction by posting the map with the headline "Here's your state's favorite band."

What's the difference between "distinctive" and "favorite"?

Lamere's map places Blake Shelton on Indiana because the country musician indexes higher in this state than in the entire United States. According to Lamere's research, Shelton is the 31st most popular act in Indiana, and he's the 91st most popular act in the nation. The difference of 60 slots justifies Lamere's designation of Shelton as a "distinctive" act.

When a visitor to MusicMachinery.com questioned the relevancy of Young Jeezy in Michigan, Lamere responded this way:

"The study isn't about finding the favorite artist for a state, it is looking at regional music listening preferences. The map is showing a distinctive artist for a state. Young Jeezy is ranked higher on the Michigan charts than he is on the U.S. charts. Thus, he's a distinctive artist for Michigan."

Despite Slate.com's botched headline, Lamere's work makes for a fascinating study. He even shares an online app for anyone interested in running their own numbers.

I wanted to learn about other popular acts that index higher in Indiana than across the entire United States. A few of them:

• Luke Bryan, No. 18 in Indiana, No. 48 in the U.S.

• Florida Georgia Line, No. 24 in Indiana, No. 75 in the U.S.

• Fall Out Boy, No. 26 in Indiana, No. 59 in the U.S.

• Jason Aldean, No. 30 in Indiana, No. 84 in the U.S.

• Usher, No. 34 in Indiana, No. 46 in the U.S.

Shelton's 60-position spread isn't anywhere near the largest when one calculates "artists listened to more in Indiana than they are in the United States." Check out this Top 5:

• Futurecop!, No. 936 in Indiana, No. 3,739 in the U.S. (a spread of 2,803 positions)

• Todd Snider, No. 705 in Indiana, No. 2,729 in the U.S.

• Los Caminantes, No. 967 in Indiana, No. 2,442 in the U.S.

• Insane Clown Posse, No. 886 in Indiana, No. 2,264 in the U.S.

• Michael W. Smith, No. 848 in Indiana, No. 2,120 in the U.S.

Unfamiliar with Futurecop? Me, too, but it's seemingly an English dream pop duo of Manzur Iqbal and Peter Carrol. For the record, Hoosier Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp ranks No. 194 in Indiana and No. 787 in the U.S.

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.

Our real Top 10 list

On the topic of "Your state's favorite band," don't expect any major surprises.

According to Paul Lamere's research, here's the mass-appeal Top 10 for Hoosier listeners:

1. Jay-Z

2. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

3. Drake

4. Eminem

5. Daft Punk

6. Imagine Dragons

7. Lorde

8. Justin Timberlake

9. Bruno Mars

10. Rihanna