Pandemic legacy? Europe hails domestic artist boom

The Covid effect has been credited for triggering a boom in the popularity of domestic acts in markets around Europe.

In one of the more positive legacies of the pandemic, homegrown talent stepped up to fill the void left by international artists, who were taken out of the touring equation for the best part of two years. And more than two years since the world opened up again, the shift looks to be sticking.

The trend is no more pronounced than in Scandinavia, where Swedish rapper Ant Wan performed the biggest hip-hop concert in the country’s history last month after selling in the region of 40,000 tickets for his Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena gig, promoted by FKP Scorpio Sweden.

Meanwhile, David Maloney of All Things Live Sweden pointed to the “amazing business” of the company’s tours with local acts such as Veronica Maggio, HammerFall and Evergrey.

“The domestic market in Sweden now is bigger than it’s ever been,” Maloney recently told IQ. “That’s something we are really concentrating on now.”

“We’ve seen a big change with Danish acts playing bigger venues than they used to”

In neighbouring Norway, recent All Things Live (ATL) shows have included Girl In Red and Sundfør at Oslo’s Spektrum – as well as 30th anniversary-celebrating Klovner I Kamp in Torshovdalen park in Oslo in August.

“Domestic artists are doing very well,” said ATL Group CEO Gry Mølleskog. “We have just sold 75,000 tickets for Åge Aleksandersen in Trondheim [at Lerkendal Stadion] next year. He is a legend – the whole of Norway loves him so much, and he is also playing big outdoor shows in several cities, including Oslo [Voldsløkka] and Bergen [Bergenhus Fortress].”

Mølleskog also highlights solo artists Ingebjørg Bratland and Odd Nordstoga, who joined forces again to play 120 concerts in Norway in the past year and have announced a Christmas tour, and veteran Sámi singer Mari Boine.

Elsewhere in Denmark, Brian Nielsen, CEO of DTD Group hailed the ascent of Aarhus-born Tobias Rahim, who topped Denmark’s singles charts for nearly 40 weeks with his second album, as “an Ed Sheeran-type story”. Rahim went on to headline Copenhagen’s 17,000-cap Royal Arena and land prominent slots at key Danish festivals Tinderbox, NorthSide and Roskilde.

“As a new artist, he went straight to arenas from airplay,” Nielsen told IQ. “With the way the audience is finding new music, primarily via streaming, the movement is so much faster. We’ve seen a big change with Danish acts playing bigger venues than they used to, and Tobias is a really strong example.”

“I don’t know if that hailed out of Covid, but the local scene is stronger than ever”

The fresh wave of Danish talent also includes artists such as D1MA, Andreas Odbjerg, Drew Sycamore, Blæst, and rappers including Gobs, TopGunn, and Lamin.

“It’s golden days for Danish artists coming up,” added smash!bang!pow! senior promoter Xenia Grigat. “I don’t know if that hailed out of Covid, but the local scene is stronger than ever. It doesn’t mean there isn’t room for international artists, but if you look at the top 20 tracks on radio or in the charts, it will probably be 80% Danish artists. And, of course, there is a high demand from festivals for those artists, but it also means that for [up and coming] Danish acts, there is a huge focus on trying to find the next big thing.”

In addition, Italian musician Gabry Ponte will become the first DJ to headline Milan’s 80,000-cap San Siro Stadium in June next year, with other domestic stadium artists including Vasco Rossi, Marco Mengoni, Elisa and Negramaro.

Spain has also produced homegrown stadium headliners such as Dellafuente, Aitana and Lola Índigo and Estopa, while the country’s best-selling tours last year were all by Spanish artists: Manuel Carrasco (365,652 tickets sold), Melendi (308,258) and Joaquín Sabina (253,809 tickets).

“Traditionally, promoters used to hire much more international artists, specifically Anglo-Saxon ones,” Concert Studio’s Carlos Pérez told IQ last year. “However, after the pandemic, the work of national artists is highly valued. In fact, they occupy a large part of the lineups of our festivals.”

“They are selling pretty well – like, 80% sold out in some cases”

Speaking earlier this year, Sara Kordek, creative director of Poland’s Good Taste Production, noted the company had 30 arena shows announced for domestic acts like Mrozu, Daria Zawiałow, Kwiat Jabłoni, and Ralph Kaminski.

“Last year, we were doing club tours with these artists, and then we put them on our Summer Sounds project, our travelling festival, and now we have announced arena tours for spring, and they are selling pretty well – like, 80% sold out in some cases,” said Kordek.

In Germany, Schlager singer Roland Kaiser drew more than 400,000 visitors to his 2024 shows, selling out 20 concerts including stadium shows in Leipzig, Cologne, Rostock and Hanover, while hip-hop stars such as Luciano, Apache 207, Kontra K and Bushido have risen to arena level.

Luciano will tour arenas in Cologne, Hanover, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin in late 2025, whereas Apache 207 concluded a 24-date tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland earlier this year, hitting the biggest German arenas, typically for two to three nights each.

Pashanim, Ski Aggu, Luciano, and Apache 207 have all scored number one singles in Germany this year, while Luciano and Alligatoah have both released chart-topping albums.

“A lot of German hip-hop artists already have very good fanbases and a good market playing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland”

Promoters including DreamHaus, All Artists Agency, and Landstreicher Booking are among those to have nurtured the genre as it has exploded over the past decade, with DEAG going as far as to spin off its hip-hop booking division into a standalone brand called District Live. Led by Alexander Handwerker, it focuses on booking for up-and-coming hip-hop talent, and sold 70,000 tickets in its first year.

“Germany is also a very big market in itself,” added Neus López, head of export at German music funding institution Initiative Musik. “So a lot of German hip-hop artists already have very good fanbases and a good market playing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.”

And French hip-hop acts are now selling tickets in France on a par with some of the biggest international acts. Local promoters suggest the country is the second-biggest market for hip-hop in the world after the US, driven by an especially vibrant local rap scene.

The domestic artist boom has been charted by IQ‘s regular market reports. Subscribers can read our latest edition, which focuses on Norway, here.

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