By : Billboard Staff
Source : Billboard

From Billy Joel's New York state of mind to the Beach Boys being synonymous with sunny California, each state has given us some amazing music. In honor of July 4th, Billboard has (subjectively) chosen a top star (or stars) to fly the flag for each of the 50 states. In most cases, the representative artist was born in his or her chosen state. In a few others, or in the case of groups, states were picked based on the states in which acts spent their formative years.

Please note that all selections are not based on strict Billboard chart methodology, but merely opinion, although chart history was strongly considered. Thus, please feel free to agree or disagree with our choices (the latter is much more fun).

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