TOP SELECTA! was built on the shoulders of researchers, journalists, historians, data artists and cultural scholars who dedicated years to mapping and documenting Black music history. None of this would have been possible without their work. This page credits the key sources that shaped the genre tree, artist data, and musical lineage behind the game.
Interactive Maps & Visualisations
Every Noise at Once ⭐
A massive interactive scatter-plot of 6,000+ music genres with Spotify integration — genre relationships, regional listening data, and algorithmic clustering. One of the most comprehensive genre maps ever built, and a foundational reference for the similarity engine in TOP SELECTA.
everynoise.com ↗
How Black People Created Every Music Genre in America
An interactive family tree of American music tracing how nearly all American music genres originate from Black gospel and blues. Strong data journalism with rich cultural commentary. A direct influence on the genre lineage paths shown in the game.
vincedixonportfolio.com ↗
Musicmap — The Genealogy and History of Popular Music Genres
Interactive genealogy covering genres from 1870–2016, based on 200+ sources. 230+ genres across 22 major categories. Zoomable interface with explanatory articles and YouTube playlists per genre. A key reference for the genre tree structure.
musicmap.info ↗
Timeline of African American Music
Interactive timeline covering 400+ years and 51+ genres of African American music. Deep educational content with genre profiles — an invaluable historical resource informing the descriptions and era data across the game's genre tree.
timeline.carnegiehall.org ↗
The Evolution of African American Music
Classic academic flowchart tracing genres from 1600s African roots through the 1990s. Widely cited in academic and educational settings. Shows genre lineage from work songs and spirituals through to hip hop, house, and techno — one of the clearest diagrams of this lineage ever produced.
Maultsby Chart ↗
Radiooooo — Musical Time Machine
Interactive world map where you select a country and decade (from 1900s onwards) to hear music from that era and place. User-curated. Inspired the regional and era dimensions of the TOP SELECTA similarity engine.
radiooooo.com ↗
Music of the African Diaspora Map
Geographical map showing the influence of African diasporic communities on musical traditions of the Americas — tracing West African roots through the transatlantic slave trade to regional genre development. A foundational reference for the geographic and regional dimensions of the game.
ubiqueags.org ↗
The Spatial Dimensions of Hip Hop & Rap Music
Interactive geographical storytelling of hip hop's origins and spatial development, starting from the Great Migration. A rich narrative resource on how geography shaped the sound.
ArcGIS StoryMap ↗
Academic & Institutional References
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Smithsonian NMAAHC — Celebrating Black Music Month
Overview of sacred music, folk, R&B and more with deep historical context.
nmaahc.si.edu ↗ -
Wikipedia — Music of the African Diaspora
Comprehensive list of genres and regional traditions of the African diaspora.
Wikipedia ↗ -
Wikipedia — List of Musical Genres of the African Diaspora
Full categorised list by region — a key reference for the artist and genre data.
Wikipedia ↗ -
Tableau — Celebrating Black Music Appreciation Month Through Data Visualization
Data visualisation approaches to Black music history and genre relationships.
tableau.com ↗
UK Black Music Sources
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Black Cultural Archives — Garage: The Sound of a Generation
UK-specific history of garage and its cultural impact on London.
blackculturalarchives.org ↗ -
Firebird Magazine — What Do You Know About UK Garage?
History of UK garage, speedgarage, and evolution into grime.
firebirdmagazine.com ↗ -
BLAM UK — From Pirate Radio to Festival Headliners
How Black British music rose from underground to mainstream — grime, garage, afrobeats, dancehall.
blamuk.org ↗
Data & APIs
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Spotify Web API — Artist images, audio previews, and album artwork.
developer.spotify.com ↗ -
Wikipedia REST API — Artist biographies and summaries.
Wikipedia REST API ↗
TOP SELECTA! was built by Mike Barrett-Wright as part of the Black Music Multiverse project —
a celebration of the global reach and deep roots of Black music.
The genre tree, artist data, and similarity engine were constructed with reference to the sources above. None of this knowledge belongs to the game — it belongs to the artists, scholars, and communities who made and documented this music. We've tried our best to honour it.
The genre tree, artist data, and similarity engine were constructed with reference to the sources above. None of this knowledge belongs to the game — it belongs to the artists, scholars, and communities who made and documented this music. We've tried our best to honour it.