Looking for a distro to run as a VM on an M1 Mac in parallels

Hi everybody…

For decades I’ve had to use Windows (3.11 through to Win 11), but I also use MacOS (Sequoia). Windows is now relegated to a Parallels VM on the Mac. But I’d like to experiment with Linux so I’m looking for a version that will run in a VM on the Mac – i.e. an ARM version. I’ve heard that Ubuntu is a good choice but am open to ideas.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.