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To get the inside scoop on Sweden\u2019s thriving music scene, as well as the genres and artists breaking through, <\/span>For the Record<\/span><\/i> sat down with <\/span>Emma Vikstr\u00f6m<\/b>, Spotify Music Editorial Lead in the Nordics.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite being a small country, Sweden exports the most music per capita. Our artists have had a major impact globally, and Spotify data shows that Swedish artists are streamed more outside of our country than within.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are legendary groups like <\/span>ABBA<\/b><\/a> that helped shape the sound of pop music, trendsetters like <\/span>Robyn<\/b><\/a> that have had an outsized influence on the artistry of stars like <\/span>Tove Lo<\/b><\/a>, and ubiquitous icons like<\/span> Avicii<\/b><\/a> that left an indelible mark on dance music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Songwriters and producers have been just as important to our music culture as well, if not more! You know your favorite global hit? There\u2019s a good chance a Swedish songwriter or producer was involved. <\/span>Max Martin<\/b> <\/a>defined an entire generation of pop music and is still making his presence felt through artists like <\/span>Ariana Grande<\/b><\/a>. And there are so many more examples.<\/span> Ludwig G\u00f6ransson<\/b><\/a> has worked with <\/span>Rihanna<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Patrik Berger<\/b><\/a> has worked with <\/span>Taylor Swift<\/b><\/a>, and <\/span>Carl Falk <\/b><\/a>has worked with <\/span>One Direction<\/b><\/a>, to name a few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n New releases from Swedish artists are definitely finding fans abroad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Looking back at 2024, we saw notable releases from hitmakers like <\/span>Galantis<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Zara Larsson<\/b><\/a>, and Robyn, and they all resonated with a global audience. And interestingly, artists who may not be familiar names globally\u2014like <\/span>Elliphant<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Benjamin Ingrosso<\/b><\/a>, and <\/span>Mapei<\/b><\/a>\u2014have also found new fans abroad. Swedish songwriters <\/span>Noonie Bao<\/b><\/a> and <\/span>Linus Wiklund<\/b><\/a> also influenced a whole world with <\/span>Charli Xcx\u2019s<\/b><\/a> \u201c<\/span>Apple<\/b><\/a>,\u201d one of the biggest songs from<\/span> \u201c<\/span>Brat<\/i><\/b> <\/a>Summer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And we can\u2019t forget that last year\u2019s <\/span>Wrapped<\/span><\/a> also revealed <\/span>Bladee<\/b><\/a> as the most-streamed artist among other artists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From a creative perspective, Sweden has a well-developed music education system, with many young people learning to sing, play instruments, and write songs from an early age. There\u2019s a collective affinity for melodic pop sounds here thanks to popular music competitions like Melodifestivalen and generational melodic wealth of ABBA\u2019s catalogue. And because many Swedish artists sing in English, their songs have a larger global appeal that has increased with the help of Spotify.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From an industry perspective, this global appeal has definitely been<\/span> aided by Spotify and the overall growth of digital audio and streaming. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And looking at this in the opposite direction, music fans in Sweden are also early adopters who are tapped into global sounds. The first region where <\/span>Shaboozey<\/b><\/a>\u2019s \u201c<\/span>A Bar Song (Tipsy)<\/b><\/a>\u201d landed a number-one hit was in Sweden and Nordics.<\/span><\/p>\n Our playlists highlight the best and most culturally relevant music for users, but in contextual ways. Some playlists will cater to different tastes, moods, and times of day. Other playlists, like <\/span>New Music Friday Sweden<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>pov<\/span><\/a>, highlight the new or trending hits. <\/span>Fresh Finds Nordics<\/span><\/a> surfaces unsigned artists for the listeners who love being the first to know about an artist. And <\/span>Hot Hits<\/span><\/a> is all about the biggest hits on the planet right now, plain and simple.<\/span> Artists from almost anywhere in the world have a chance to be discovered. A Swedish artist could have a bigger fan base and audience in other countries, and artists from other countries could have bigger fan bases in Sweden. That\u2019s the beauty of Spotify being global by design. <\/span> What we saw in 2024, and what\u2019s still reflected by our 2025 Artists To Watch, is that Sweden\u2019s emerging and independent scene is thriving more than ever. All kinds of new subgenres are popping up, and genre-fluid acts are breaking through, and the result is music that will put Sweden on the map in a new way. We have a crop of new Swedish artists that could be mentioned in the same sentence as <\/span>070 Shake<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Clairo<\/b><\/a>, or <\/span>Girl In Red<\/b><\/a>. It\u2019s super cool and exciting to see these artists exploring a new type of Swedish export.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re also a proud sponsor of the Grammis in Sweden, and we recently had the honor of announcing the nominees for the Best New Artist category. Looking at some of the names on that list, we\u2019re seeing an influx of artists who are taking country music with a <\/span>Johnny Cash<\/b><\/a>\u2013inspired sound and putting a distinctly Swedish spin on it. There are also left-field female acts like <\/span>ORKID<\/b><\/a> and Becky and the Birds who are exploring a nontraditional sound in their music and expression. And lastly, Swedish hip-hop continues to introduce rising stars like Best New Artist nominee Y4ska, who had two songs on the local Top 20 list in 2024.<\/span> I\u2019ve been listening to three acts from Sweden with big export potential, representing the current wave of emerging, genre-fluid Swedish music in the most perfect way: Becky and the Birds, <\/span>ABY iO<\/b><\/a>, and <\/span>Boko Yout<\/b><\/a>. They\u2019re making really interesting and captivating music!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source newsroom.spotify.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To get the inside scoop on Sweden\u2019s thriving music scene, as well as the genres and artists breaking through, For the Record sat down with Emma Vikstr\u00f6m, Spotify Music Editorial Lead in the Nordics. What makes the Swedish music scene so unique?\u00a0 Despite being a small country, Sweden exports the most music per capita. Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1995915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1995914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Hottest-Artists-Trends-and-Sounds-Coming-out-of-Sweden.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1995915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What makes the Swedish music scene so unique?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
Was this still the case in 2024?<\/b><\/h3>\n
How do you explain the massive global appeal of Swedish music?<\/b><\/h3>\n
How do Spotify\u2019s editorial playlists shape music trends in Sweden and the rest of the world?<\/b><\/h3>\n
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<\/span>It\u2019s also been exciting to watch <\/span>Teddy Swims<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Benson Boone<\/b><\/a>, and <\/span>GAYLE<\/b><\/a> make waves in the music world at large, as well as our global playlist ecosystem. They all had their \u201cfirst hits\u201d playlist adds in Nordics or Sweden and reached the top of the charts here before anywhere. Nordic users love discovering new music and being first with trends, which makes our curation strategy even more bold. We bet on songs in our playlist ecosystems that then eventually turn into global hits and keep our users satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\nMusic sharing and discovery continue to evolve. How does this benefit artists and consumers?<\/b><\/h3>\n
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<\/span>For listeners, it has never been easier to find their new favorite artists. With more than 100 million songs on Spotify today, there\u2019s something for everyone to discover. And sometimes, those discoveries happen through the songs and artists and genres recommended by our editors.<\/span>
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<\/span>We\u2019re aware of the responsibility that our platform has to spotlight promising artists who may be in the early stages of their careers or are just breaking through to stardom and take active strides to ensure we support these by leaning into the Best New Artist category at Grammis or developing our Fresh Finds Nordics flagship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhat are some emerging trends you\u2019re seeing?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nWhat are you currently listening to?<\/b>
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