What's your favorite music? Music preferences cue racial identity

Past research has shown that music preferences can provide meaningful personality and identity clues. However, no research has examined whether music preferences can convey meaningful information regarding racial identity. Across two studies, we find racial differences in music preferences and demonstrate that Black participants with lower racial centrality are more likely to prefer music associated with White Americans. In Study 1, we find that strangers can make somewhat accurate racial judgments based on music preferences alone. In Study 2, we demonstrate that people are aware of how their music preferences reflect their race. The results suggest that people have strong racial associations with certain music genres and thus may use music preferences to communicate about their racial identities.