MUSICIANS from Iceland

Top 8

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Icelander Musicians of all time. This list of famous Icelander Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Björk (1965 - )

With an HPI of 62.22, Björk is the most famous Icelander Musician.  Her biography has been translated into 90 different languages on wikipedia.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( BYURK, Icelandic: [pjœr̥k ˈkvʏðmʏntsˌtouhtɪr̥] ; born 21 November 1965) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and sometimes eccentric public persona, she has developed an eclectic musical style over a career spanning four decades, drawing on electronic, pop, experimental, trip hop, classical, and avant-garde music. Born and raised in Reykjavík, Björk began her music career at the age of 11 and gained international recognition as the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Sugarcubes by the age of 21. After the Sugarcubes disbanded in 1992, Björk gained prominence as a solo artist with her albums Debut (1993), Post (1995), and Homogenic (1997), collaborating with artists from a range of disciplines and genres, and exploring a variety of multimedia projects. Her later, post-nineties, albums consist of Vespertine (2001), Medúlla (2004), Volta (2007), Biophilia (2011), Vulnicura (2015), Utopia (2017) and Fossora (2022). Several of Björk's albums have reached the top 20 on the US Billboard 200 chart. Thirty-one of her singles have reached the top 40 on pop charts around the world, with 22 top 40 hits in the UK, including the top-10 singles "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me", and "Hyperballad" and the top-20 singles "Play Dead", "Big Time Sensuality", and "Violently Happy". Her accolades and awards include the Order of the Falcon, five BRIT Awards, and 16 Grammy nominations. In 2015, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Rolling Stone named her the 64th-greatest singer and the 81st-greatest songwriter of all time in 2023. Björk starred in the 2000 Lars von Trier film Dancer in the Dark, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I've Seen It All". Björk has also been an advocate for environmental causes in Iceland. A retrospective exhibition dedicated to Björk was held at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 2015.

2. Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969 - 2018)

With an HPI of 49.90, Jóhann Jóhannsson is the 2nd most famous Icelander Musician.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈjouːhan ˈjouːhansɔn]; 19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchestration with contemporary electronic elements. Jóhann released solo albums from 2002 onward. In 2016, he signed with Deutsche Grammophon, through which he released his last solo album, Orphée. Some of his works in film include the original scores for Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival, and James Marsh's The Theory of Everything. Jóhannsson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for both The Theory of Everything and Sicario, and won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for the former. He was a music and sound consultant on Mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky in 2017. His scores for Mary Magdalene and Mandy were released posthumously. His only directorial work, Last and First Men, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2017, where he also performed the score live with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

3. Ólafur Arnalds (1986 - )

With an HPI of 39.62, Ólafur Arnalds is the 3rd most famous Icelander Musician.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Ólafur Arnalds (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈouːlavʏr ˈartnalts]; born 3 November 1986) is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. He mixes strings and piano with loops and beats, a sound ranging from ambient/electronic to atmospheric pop. He is also the former drummer for hardcore punk and metal bands Fighting Shit, Celestine, and others. In 2009, Ólafur also formed an experimental techno project, entitled Kiasmos, with Janus Rasmussen from the Icelandic electro-pop band Bloodgroup, announcing his electronic debut album in 2014. In 2013, Ólafur composed the score for the 2013 ITV series Broadchurch, for which he won the 2014 BAFTA TV Craft Award for Best Original Music. In 2020, Ólafur was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, for his title theme to Apple TV+ series Defending Jacob. In 2021, he was nominated in two categories at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. "Loom (feat. Bonobo)" was nominated in the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category and "The Bottom Line" was nominated in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals category. Both songs appear on his fifth studio album Some Kind of Peace (2020).

4. Hildur Guðnadóttir (1982 - )

With an HPI of 38.90, Hildur Guðnadóttir is the 4th most famous Icelander Musician.  Her biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and has toured with Animal Collective and Sunn O))). She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Hildur has gained international recognition for her film and television scores, including for Journey's End (2017), Mary Magdalene (2018), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), Todd Field's Tár and Sarah Polley's Women Talking (both 2022). For her score to Todd Phillips' psychological drama film Joker (2019), she won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, making her the first solo female composer to win in all three. She is also known for her work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), which won her a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Grammy Award.

5. Jónsi (1975 - )

With an HPI of 37.90, Jónsi is the 5th most famous Icelander Musician.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (pronounced [ˈjouːn ˈθouːr ˈpɪrcɪsɔn, ˈjounsɪ] ; born 23 April 1975) is an Icelandic musician; he is the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is known for his use of a cello bow on guitar and his "angelic" falsetto or countertenor voice. Jónsi released his debut solo album Go on 5 April 2010. A decade would pass before Jónsi would release his second studio album, Shiver, which was released on 2 October 2020. He would release his third album Obsidian a year later in conjunction with the exhibit of the same name. He has also collaborated with his ex-partner Alex Somers and has contributed to the scores for the films How to Train Your Dragon and We Bought a Zoo.

6. Orri Páll Dýrason (1977 - )

With an HPI of 23.71, Orri Páll Dýrason is the 6th most famous Icelander Musician.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Orri Páll Dýrason (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈɔrːɪ ˈpʰautl ˈtiːrasɔn]; born on 4 July 1977) is an Icelandic musician. From 1999 till 2018 he was the drummer for the band Sigur Rós, which he joined in 1999, shortly after the recording of the studio album Ágætis byrjun, when the previous drummer, Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson, left the band. Orri has recorded five studio albums with Sigur Rós: ( ) (2002), Takk... (2005), Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (2008), Valtari (2012), and Kveikur (2013). He also contributed to Hvarf/Heim (2007), where "Hvarf" contains studio recordings of previously unreleased songs.

7. Georg Hólm (1976 - )

With an HPI of 23.36, Georg Hólm is the 7th most famous Icelander Musician.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Georg "Goggi" Hólm (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈcɛːɔrk ˈhoulm]; born 6 April 1976) is the bassist of the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He is the most prominent member of Sigur Rós in the English press, as he does significantly more press than the other members due to him being the most fluent English speaker in the band.

8. Kjartan Sveinsson (1978 - )

With an HPI of 22.20, Kjartan Sveinsson is the 8th most famous Icelander Musician.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Kjartan Sveinsson (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈcʰar̥tan ˈsveinsɔn]; born 2 January 1978) is an Icelandic musician who is the keyboardist for the post-rock band Sigur Rós. He joined the band in 1998. A multi-instrumentalist, he has also played such instruments as the flute, tin whistle, oboe, guitar and the banjo, as well as many of the unorthodox instruments that contribute to Sigur Rós's distinctive sound. Kjartan has performed under the pseudonym "The Lonesome Traveller" with Sigur Rós bandmate Orri Páll Dýrason and Amiina violinist María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir (whom Kjartan married in 2001). "The Lonesome Traveller" covered Sigur Rós songs acoustically in an alt-country style. Kjartan also composed scores for the 2005 Academy Award nominated short film Síðasti bærinn (The Last Farm) by Rúnar Rúnarsson, for award-winning director Ramin Bahrani's 2009 short film Plastic Bag which features the narration of filmmaker Werner Herzog, and for the 2009 film Ondine directed by Neil Jordan. Kjartan was the composer on Volcano (2011) and Sparrow (2015) both directed by Rúnar Rúnarsson. Kjartan also contributes to Sigur Rós's orchestral and string arrangements, along with the group Amiina. He is also featured heavily on The Album Leaf's album, In a Safe Place, playing a wide variety of instruments. Kjartan is a member of the advisory board for Kraumur Music Fund, which aims to "strengthen Icelandic musical life, primarily by supporting young musicians in performing and presenting their works." On 16 November 2010 Kjartan Sveinsson performed in The Whitelight Festival, along with Jonsi & Alex and The Hilliard Ensemble. Kjartan composed Sonnets of his own, as well as the world premiere of his new piece entitled Credo. The performance was streamed live on NPR's website. On 17 April 2011 Q2 - a listener-supported, New York City-based Internet stream devoted to the music of living composers - along with NPR named Kjartan Sveinsson in a list of "100 Composers Under 40". In a post on Sigur Rós's Facebook page announcing an "ask me anything" Q&A session with fans via the social news website Reddit on 24 January 2013, the band referred to themselves as being a "now three-piece band." The band confirmed Kjartan Sveinsson's departure during a Reddit Q&A session, stating that "...he has left the band. He said he spent half his life in the band and it was time to do something different." On 19 February 2014 Kjartan showcased 'his most ambitious musical work' since leaving the band in the form of a collaborative theatre set-piece with Iceland's acclaimed contemporary artist, Ragnar Kjartansson. The work, titled Der Klang Der Offenbarung Des Göttlichen (The Sounds of the Revelation of the Divine) was performed at Berlin’s Volksbühne theatre, in cooperation with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg and the Filmchor Berlin. In February 2015, Kjartan Sveinsson again collaborated with Ragnar Kjartansson, being involved in a performance art exhibition at the John Curtin Gallery and the Fremantle Arts Centre in Perth, Australia. On 14 February 2022, Sigur Rós made a social media post announcing Kjartan was returning to the band