The Most Famous

MUSICIANS from Sweden

This page contains a list of the greatest Swedish Musicians. The pantheon dataset contains 3,175 Musicians, 59 of which were born in Sweden. This makes Sweden the birth place of the 5th most number of Musicians behind Germany, and France.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Swedish Musicians of all time. This list of famous Swedish Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Swedish Musicians.

1. Benny Andersson (b. 1946)

With an HPI of 68.93, Benny Andersson is the most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 55 different languages on wikipedia.

Göran Bror Benny Andersson (Swedish: [ˈbɛ̌nːʏ ˈânːdɛˌʂɔn] ; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.

2. Björn Ulvaeus (b. 1945)

With an HPI of 68.54, Björn Ulvaeus is the 2nd most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 53 different languages.

Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (Swedish: [ˈbjœːɳ ɵlˈvěːɵs] ; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! He co-produced the films Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with fellow ABBA member and close friend Benny Andersson. He is the oldest member of the group.

3. Franz Berwald (1796 - 1868)

With an HPI of 61.27, Franz Berwald is the 3rd most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Franz Adolf Berwald (23 July 1796 – 3 April 1868) was a Swedish Romantic composer and violinist. He made his living as an orthopedist and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory, and became more appreciated as a composer after his death than he had been in his lifetime. Prominent in his oeuvre are several operas, much chamber music and four symphonies.

4. Carl Michael Bellman (1740 - 1795)

With an HPI of 59.07, Carl Michael Bellman is the 4th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Carl Michael Bellman (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈkɑːɭ ˈmîːkaɛl ˈbɛ̌lːman] ; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet, and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature, to this day. He has been compared to Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mozart, and Hogarth, but his gift, using elegantly rococo classical references in comic contrast to sordid drinking and prostitution—at once regretted and celebrated in song—is unique. Bellman is best known for two collections of poems set to music, Fredman's epistles (Fredmans epistlar) and Fredman's songs (Fredmans sånger). Each consists of about 70 songs. The general theme is drinking, but the songs "most ingeniously" combine words and music to express feelings and moods ranging from humorous to elegiac, romantic to satirical. Bellman's patrons included King Gustav III of Sweden, who called him a master improviser. Bellman's songs continue to be performed and recorded by musicians from Scandinavia and in other languages, including English, French, German, Italian, and Russian. Several of his songs including Gubben Noak and Fjäriln vingad are known by heart by many Swedes. His legacy further includes a museum in Stockholm and a society that fosters interest in him and his work.

5. Per Gessle (b. 1959)

With an HPI of 58.76, Per Gessle is the 5th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Per Håkan Gessle (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈpæːr ˈhôːkan ˈɡɛ̂sːlɛ] ; born 12 January 1959) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbanded after her death in 2019. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with their albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and topped the charts in the US four times, most notably with "It Must Have Been Love" which was featured in the film Pretty Woman. Prior to the formation of Roxette, he had a successful career in his native Sweden as the frontman for Gyllene Tider. The band released three number-one albums during the early 1980s but disbanded shortly after their fourth album, The Heartland Café (1984). In-between periods in Roxette and Gyllene Tider reunions, Gessle recorded numerous solo albums, both in Swedish and English. After Fredriksson's illness in 2002 he released Mazarin (2003). The album was a critical and commercial success for Gessle and started the beginning of a long-term collaboration with the backing vocalist Helena Josefsson. With Fredriksson's continued treatment and recuperation he made three more albums, Son of a Plumber (2005), En händig man (A handy man, 2007) and Party Crasher (2008). After Roxette's Neverending World Tour finished in 2015 he produced another set of solo efforts, En vacker natt (2017), En vacker dag (2017) and Small Town Talk (2018). In 2016 he started using the pseudonym Mono Mind, first releasing a few singles before delivering a full album, Mind Control, in 2019. Gessle was the main songwriter for both Roxette and Gyllene Tider.

6. Yngwie Malmsteen (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 57.88, Yngwie Malmsteen is the 6th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, Swedish pronunciation: [lâːʂ ˈjuːhan ˈʏŋvɛ lânːɛrbɛk] on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning over 40 years. In August 2009, Time magazine named Malmsteen No. 9 on its list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.

7. Stig Anderson (1931 - 1997)

With an HPI of 57.58, Stig Anderson is the 7th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Stig Erik Leopold "Stikkan" Anderson (25 January 1931 – 12 September 1997) was a Swedish music manager, lyricist and music publisher. He was the co-founder of Polar Music, and is best known for managing the Swedish pop band ABBA.

8. Mikkey Dee (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 56.26, Mikkey Dee is the 8th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou (born 31 October 1963), known professionally as Mikkey Dee, is a Swedish musician, who has played drums for German heavy metal band Scorpions since 2016. He was the drummer for English heavy metal band Motörhead (for which he is still best known to this day) from 1992 until 2015 and has played with other artists including King Diamond, Helloween and Don Dokken.

9. Avicii (1989 - 2018)

With an HPI of 53.25, Avicii is the 9th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 85 different languages.

Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose to prominence in 2011 with his single "Levels". His debut studio album, True (2013), blended electronic music with elements of multiple genres and received generally positive reviews. It peaked in the top 10 in more than 15 countries and topped international charts; the lead single, "Wake Me Up", topped most music markets in Europe and reached number four in the United States. In 2015, Bergling released his second studio album, Stories, and in 2017 he released an extended play, Avīci (01). His catalog also included the singles "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero, "You Make Me", "X You", "Hey Brother", "Addicted to You", "The Days", "The Nights", "Waiting for Love", "Without You", "Lonely Together" and "SOS". Bergling was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work on "Sunshine" with David Guetta in 2012 and "Levels" in 2013. Several music publications credit Bergling as among the DJs who ushered electronic music into Top 40 radio in the early 2010s. Bergling retired from touring in 2016, after several years of stress and poor mental health. In 2018, he died by suicide while on holiday in Muscat, Oman. His third and final album, Tim, was released posthumously in 2019.

10. Jan Johansson (1931 - 1968)

With an HPI of 52.58, Jan Johansson is the 10th most famous Swedish Musician. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Jan Johansson (16 September 1931 – 9 November 1968) was a Swedish jazz pianist. His album Jazz på svenska (Jazz in Swedish) is the best selling jazz release ever in Sweden; it has sold over a quarter of a million copies and has been streamed more than 50 million times on Spotify. He was the father of former HammerFall drummer Anders Johansson and Stratovarius keyboardist Jens Johansson, who run Heptagon Records which keeps their father's recordings available.

People

Pantheon has 70 people classified as Swedish musicians born between 1740 and 1991. Of these 70, 57 (81.43%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Swedish musicians include Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Per Gessle. The most famous deceased Swedish musicians include Franz Berwald, Carl Michael Bellman, and Stig Anderson. As of April 2024, 10 new Swedish musicians have been added to Pantheon including John Levén, Ola Brunkert, and Jonas Berggren.