Midsummer Means Classic Swedish Music and Lots of Tomas Ledin

For those who don't call Sweden home, the country likely makes you think of Spotify, as well as IKEA, meatballs, and fika. But Sweden is also well known for the famous Midsummer celebration, which marks the start of the summer holidays. During Midsummer, people head to the country to dance, eat traditional Scandinavian food, and sing classic Swedish summer songs. And with almost 200,000 Midsummer-themed playlists on Spotify, it's clear that revelers are enjoying the holiday by jamming out to their favorite folksy hits.

Despite Swedes being known for producing great pop music, listeners are looking for the classics during the holiday. Case in point? The top 10 most popular songs streamed globally on Spotify during Midsummer have stayed the same over the last few years. In 2018, the most commonly played songs on the global scene were classics like Sol, vind och vatten, released in 1972, and Sommaren r kort, from 1982.

Top 10 most played songs during Midsummer (global)

Sol, vind och vatten - Ted G rdestad

Sommartider - Gyllene Tider

Sommaren r kort - Tomas Ledin

V gorna - Uno Svenningsson

Sommarnatt - Snowstorm

N r vi gr ver guld i USA - Glenmark Eriksson Str mstedt

Ta mig till havet - Peter Lundblad

Oh boy - Peps Persson

Oh, vilken h rlig da - Ted G rdestad

Magaluf - Orup

One artist in particular personifies the sounds of Midsummer for global listeners. Tomas Ledin spikes each year on the holiday, with streams increasing by 600%.

Hopefully people listen [to my music] during Midsummer because of my songs and my artistry, Ledin says. Possibly because I've done different summer tours over the years. I imagine that songs like Sommaren r kort,' H r under sommarhimlen,' and Bl bl k nslor' meant a lot.

As for what Ledin will be listening to this summer, he says it depends on the situation and the mood: Right now, I often return to a Spotify playlist that's very mixed, genre-wise. It includes everything from country giant Chris Stapleton, some of the Eagles' classic 70s and 80s songs, and John Mayer's latest singles, to old favorites like Karla Bonoff and wonderful Sade. Also on my playlist are Miles Davis from the King of cool' period, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, the classic cellist and Polar Music Prize winner Yo-Yo Ma, and ambient guru Nils Frahm's meditative music.

While Midsummer playlists are mostly created by listeners in Sweden and other Nordic countries, they're popular among listeners in the U.S and Germany-both of which also have a high number of Midsummer-themed playlists. For Swedes living abroad and celebrating in the U.S., the willingness to keep up Midsummer traditions (flower crowns, anyone?) and sing along to classic Swedish hits shows that you can take a Swede from Sweden, but you can't take the Sweden out of a Swede.

Top 5 countries with number of playlists with the Midsummer theme

Sweden

Norway

Finland

United States

Germany

Get ready for Midsummer wherever you are by listening to our Swedish Summer Hits playlist.

LINK:	https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-06-21/midsummer-means-classic-swedis...
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