I thought it might be fun to offer a little context for this map (below), which has been making the rounds at Reddit and FlowingData.

(Click the map for a larger image)

It shows Sweden and Finland with a fairly massive lead in metal bands per capita. Northern Europe and Scandinavia do well across board with Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and tiny Estonia besting the U.S. and U.K. by a considerable margin, as our colleagues at The Atlantic Wire have noted.

This is surprising, no? The United States and United Kingdom, after all, gave birth to the genre with influential American bands like Iron Butterfly and Metallica; Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden hail from England. Not to mention, Australia’s AC/DC or Canada’s Anvil.

Sweden and Finland are no slouches on the metal band front. Sweden is home to some of the most influential metal bands around like Opeth, In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, At The Gates, and Amon Amarth. Finland is home to Children of Bodom, Apocalyptica, Impaled Nazarene, Nightwish, and more. Finland’s, Lordi was the first metal band to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Both countries are reasonably small which helps boost their per capita numbers.