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55 albums · 1962–2022

Music of Sweden, from Taube and ABBA to Gothenburg's indie, metal and today

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

ABBA with flowers and an award in an airport hall in 1976
Håkan Hellström singing in a white suit in front of an orchestraRobyn in a red blouse singing on an outdoor stage with one arm raised
Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus at Schiphol in November 1976. Photo: Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Håkan Hellström at the Polar Music Prize ceremony in the Stockholm Concert Hall, 2005. Photo: Patrik Österberg, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Robyn at the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg, August 2009. Photo: Benoît Derrier, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sweden's popular music has a song tradition at its start, the visa of Evert Taube and Cornelis Vreeswijk, and a jazz of its own in Jan Johansson's Jazz på svenska and Monica Zetterlund; the progg of Hoola Bandoola Band came in the seventies alongside ABBA, then Ebba Grön and Roxette, the nineties of Ace of Base, The Cardigans and Kent, Gothenburg's Håkan Hellström, José González and The Knife, the indie of Peter Bjorn and John and First Aid Kit, the metal of Bathory, Opeth and Ghost, the dance floors of Robyn, Avicii and Loreen, the rap of Timbuktu, and the fiddles of Väsen and Hedningarna. The list has 55 records from 1962 to 2022, one or two by each of the names above and only a small part of what they made; most of the classical tradition beyond a nod to Anne Sofie von Otter, the dansband halls, the Sámi joik, schlager and the Melodifestivalen would each need a list of their own. About 44 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

Pop 13%Rock 13%Metal 10%Other 64%
  • Pop 13%
  • Rock 13%
  • Metal 10%
  • Other 64%

The genres named most: swedish, pop, rock, metal, folk, indie pop.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Sweden 55. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Countries first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.