Hello, I am born in Italy and always wondered why does Sweden have so many good artists and bands comparing to other countries that is the same size and population then.

Bands and artists like ABBA, Yung Lean, Avicii, Roxette, Ghost, The Hives, Tove Lo, Robyn, Ace Of Base, The Cardigans, Zara Larsson, Swedish House Mafia and obviously Max Martin (the songwriter to most biggest hits the last 25 years, he have been written most of The Weeknd's songs for example) and many more.

What do you think is the reason and who is your favourite?

also great indie underground artist

fav is The Tallest Man on Earth, the Swedish Bob Dylan ;)

That's quite impressive to list all those great Swedish artists and not include a single Metal band in there. Sweden has a long tradition of producing important and groundbreaking Metal acts too.

Think of acts like Bathory, Meshuggah, Arch Enemy, Candlemass, In Flames, Sabaton, Opeth, Therion, Amon Amarth and of course Yngwie Malmsteen.

All have had a huge influence on the genre

8 hours ago, katy said:

who is your favourite?

Graaf (short lived sisters duo)

If I had to pick a favourite Swedish act I would probably say Eric Prydz. I thought the members of Swedish House Mafia were decent as individual DJs previously but I can't say I'm a fan of Swedish House Mafia.

The definition of "good artists and bands" is subjective and most of those you've listed aren't my cup of tea. However in terms of successful bands and artists I would say Max Martin and his fellow Swedish songwriters play an important part and it's their philosophy of making music for the masses by following a certain formula. ABBA arguably started that trend, I can recall one of the blokes from ABBA saying it was a bit of a surprise that writing something a bit corny was so well received but because it worked so well they kept on doing it.

Also Spotify are from Sweden.

I wonder if proficiency in English is a factor. The artists are more markable abroad so we've heard of more of them.

Similarly, Ireland. A population of 5 million (only recently - it was 3.5 at the turn of the century) and we all know how many successful acts come from Ireland.

Agnes is fantastic as well.

Dance Love Pop is one of my favourite albums from 2009/2010.

Veritas is also pretty good.

i think "good" is rather subjective here. for me swedish music is more catered to the global audience and they have a huge popular music industry too (e.g. their rejects being lapped up by other countries in eurovision ). culturally popular music seems to be more looked upon there?

On 31/05/2025 at 23:02, uhsting said:

culturally popular music seems to be more looked upon there?

I think this is the closest anyone has come to answering this! I've also long wondered why Sweden has so many successful musical artists (let's replace the word "good" with "successful" to make the discussion objective rather than subjective, as it's pretty undeniable that Sweden has produced more internationally successful acts compared to other similarly-sized countries). I think pop music must be more in their culture compared to other countries but I'd love to know if anyone has any better theories.

Also, Swedish acts being successful was the case long before Max Martin came on the scene, as evident from many of the acts mentioned (can we also include poor forgotten Neneh Cherry in the list?)

3 hours ago, Mangø said:

I think this is the closest anyone has come to answering this! I've also long wondered why Sweden has so many successful musical artists (let's replace the word "good" with "successful" to make the discussion objective rather than subjective, as it's pretty undeniable that Sweden has produced more internationally successful acts compared to other similarly-sized countries). I think pop music must be more in their culture compared to other countries but I'd love to know if anyone has any better theories.

Also, Swedish acts being successful was the case long before Max Martin came on the scene, as evident from many of the acts mentioned (can we also include poor forgotten Neneh Cherry in the list?)

I would say Neneh Cherry is a different entity to the other Swedish acts because she'd been living in England for several years before she broke through and was part of the UK scene.