Top 5 all time artists from Sweden.
This vote is to showcase talent other than the normal British and American acts.
Here is mine…
I couldn’t really justify having ABBA in the top 5 because I know a lot of their songs but practically never play them. The top 5 are bands I play and enjoy still.
Who do you want next?
0 voters
Stina Nordenstam
ABBA
The Knife
The Cardigans
Fever Ray
Obscene amount of good stuff isn’t there… Loreen, Robyn,The Field, Mans Zelmerlow, The Hives, Lykke Li, Little Dragon, that’s just off the top of my head.
Stina Nordenstam wrote probably my favourite album ever so that’s an easy number one. ABBA are too good. The Knife & Fever Ray are wonderful and got me into so much good music. The Cardigans are underrated imo, some cracking albums, and I grew up on Gran Turismo.
Dead good at music, them Swedes.
Millencolin’s Pennybridge Pioneers might be my favorite pop-punk album ever. So melodic, so much intensity in both the instruments and vocals, and a real sense of sadness / impending change and loss running through it.
I’m brand new to The Radio Dept., but Lesser Matters has been great so far. Strange Things Will Happen and Ewan are perfect songs. Really excited to try the next one soon.
Still need to listen to The Field, but I came across his Lars Blek project in the ambient thread and it’s been one of my favorite discoveries of the year. It feels like fading in and out of different dreams.
Ahh, the ideal thread for me to point out that Moonbabies are wonderful:
It seems incredible that Neneh Cherry isn’t on this list but Eagle Eye is
| Artist | Sales |
|---|---|
| ABBA | 150 million[1] |
| Roxette | 75 million[2] |
| Ace of Base | 50 million[3] |
| Avicii | 30 million[4] |
| Europe | 25 million[5] |
| Spotnicks | 18 million[3] |
| Cardigans | 15 million[3] |
| Dr Alban | 14 million[6] |
| Alcazar | 12 million[7] |
| Vikingarna | 11 million[3] |
| Swedish House Mafia | 10 million[8] |
| Rednex | 10 million[9] |
| Army of Lovers | 7 million[10] |
| A*Teens | 6 million[citation needed] |
| Pandora | 6 million[citation needed] |
| Eagle Eye Cherry | 4 million[11] |
I mean I know ‘Save Tonight’ is pure MOR fodder but I felt like ‘Buffalo Stance’ was so huge it would have tipped the balance.
Anyway, I think if I had to choose 5 favourite Swedish acts then I guess
The Hives
The Knife
Neneh Cherry
Cardigans
Roxette
The Hives
Thåström
Soundtrack of our Lives
The Cardigans
The Tough Alliance
The Field
Dungen
The Knife
Refused
Peter Bjorn and John
ABBA
Robyn
Neneh Cherry
The Hives
Lykke Li
Stina
Don’t know much Swedish stuff, they’re the poor neighbours of Finland musically imo (most would probably put it the other way round though I guess)
Also; The Field, The Knife, Stina Nordenstam, Loney Dear, The Mary Onettes, Raymond and Maria, I’m From Barcelona, Bobo Stenson, Hello Saferide, Shout Out Louds
Ridiculously strong.
I literally had no idea that the Cherry siblings were Swedish. For some reason I thought they were from the same kind of Bristol scene that spawned Massive Attack, Portishead et al. No idea why I though this.
Anyhow:
1 The Field
2 Fever Ray
3 The Knife
4 Neneh Cherry
5 The Hives
The first three are pretty much equal really - order could be different on any given morning. Big gap between 3 and 4 and an insurmountable gap between 4 and 5. This thread has taught me that I need to investigate more acts from Sweden.
Their mother is Swedish, their stepfather was the American jazz musician Don Cherry. They grew up in Sweden but Neneh came to England in her teens and was involved in the London punk scene (she was in Rip Rig and Panic when she was 17)
Anna Von Hauswolff
Stina Nordenstam
Neneh Cherry
The Cardigans
First Aid Kit
Ah the Wannadies. I really should have remembered them, especially as I flicked past a blue 7" I have of theirs just the other day.
Also I expected you to give me some blowback on my Roxette/Ace of Bass revelation.
Wish Norway had won. They’ve got all that great cosmic disco and black metal. Sweden is very much the poor relation imo. Anyway