One Swede, Max Martin, has written 31 US No. 1 hits – one behind Paul McCartney. The story runs through a club DJ's Stockholm studio and cheap municipal music schools, in what is, by one count, one of only four net music-exporting countries.
Sweden's own answer to its hit-writing: a DJ's studio and cheap music schools.
Facts
- Max Martin (born 1971 in Stenhamra, outside Stockholm) has written 31 US Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s – second only to Paul McCartney's 32, ahead of John Lennon's 26 – from Britney Spears' “…Baby One More Time” (1999) to Taylor Swift's “Patient Zero” (chart dated 10 October 2026). His 29 No. 1s as a producer are a record. One of them, The Weeknd's “Blinding Lights”, tops Billboard's Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs.
- His pop career started at Cheiron, a Stockholm studio set up in 1992 by Denniz PoP (Dag Volle), a well-known club DJ who “neither wrote nor played music” (The New Yorker) and quit recorder lessons after three attempts (The Guardian). Martin began on the recorder at his community music school, then played French horn in the school orchestra: “I would not be standing in this place today if it weren't for the public music school.”
- Sweden's municipal music schools spread in the 1940s – to give children meaningful leisure whatever their parents could afford and, in words a 2016 government inquiry quotes, to help keep “booze and the threatening misery in check”. In 2024 they ran in 287 of Sweden's 290 municipalities, with about 190,000 pupils aged 6–19 in term courses (10.9 % of that age group). The average fee was 1,366 kronor a year – about $130 at 2024's average exchange rate (computed); 13 % of municipalities charged nothing.
- “The world's third-biggest music exporter” is a much-repeated line – a Swedish consulate wrote in 2008 that Sweden was “the 3rd largest music exporter in the world with over 800 million dollars in revenue” – but no method is given. A 1999 report for Sweden's finance ministry estimated music exports at about 3.3 billion kronor in 1997, said other countries' figures could not be compared, and found Swedes' music royalty income per person the highest of any country. The industry's own count for 2024: 6 billion kronor.
- By the count of Stim, Sweden's songwriters' society (2025), only four countries earn more from songwriting abroad than they pay out: the US, the UK, South Korea and Sweden (2.8 to 1 in 2024). Sweden has about 106,000 registered songwriters – four times as many per person as the UK – and Stim's K-pop income is up 1,000 % since 2018; a Korean label says it “often” hosts songwriting camps in the Nordic region.
- Avicii's “Wake Me Up” (2013) became the UK's 140th million-selling single and, in 2023, the first song by a Swedish artist past 2 billion Spotify streams. Sources also point to English – Sweden doesn't dub English-language TV series and films – and to Spotify, founded in Stockholm in 2006.
Sources
- Billboard: Taylor Swift's ‘Patient Zero’ debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 (Gary Trust, 5 Oct 2026) · Billboard checked 10 October 2026
- Billboard: The songwriters & producers with the most Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s (Gary Trust, 6 Oct 2026) · Billboard checked 10 October 2026
- Billboard: Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs · Billboard checked 10 October 2026
- Wikipedia: Max Martin · Wikipedia checked 10 October 2026
- Wikipedia: Blinding Lights · Wikipedia checked 10 October 2026
- Wikipedia: Cheiron Studios · Wikipedia checked 10 October 2026
- The Guardian: ‘A true genius’ – Denniz Pop, the late Scandi-pop architect behind Max Martin, Robyn and NSync (Michael Cragg, 27 Apr 2023) · The Guardian checked 10 October 2026
- The New Yorker: Blank Space – what kind of genius is Max Martin? (John Seabrook, 30 Sep 2015) · The New Yorker checked 10 October 2026
- sweden.se (Swedish Institute): The Swedish music miracle (1 Oct 2026) · sweden.se checked 10 October 2026
- Stim / Will Page: Sweden's music industry at a crossroads – strategies for continued global success (2025) · Stim checked 10 October 2026
- Stim: Annual report 2025 · Stim checked 10 October 2026
- Kulturrådet (Swedish Arts Council): Kulturskolan i siffror – sammanfattning av statistik 2024 (Feb 2026) · Kulturrådet checked 10 October 2026
- Sveriges Riksbank: USD/SEK daily exchange rates 2024 (series SEKUSDPMI) · Riksbank checked 10 October 2026
- SOU 2016:69 En inkluderande kulturskola på egen grund (Swedish government inquiry) · Regeringen checked 10 October 2026
- Kim Forss: Att ta sig ton – en ESO-rapport om svensk musikexport 1974–1999 (Ds 1999:28, Ministry of Finance) · ESO checked 10 October 2026
- Consulate General of Sweden, Los Angeles: Export Music Sweden at MuseExpo (archived 15 Jun 2008) · Swedenabroad checked 10 October 2026
- Musiksverige: Den svenska musikbranschen i siffror 2009–2024 (Oct 2025) · Musiksverige checked 10 October 2026
- Official Charts: Wake Me Up becomes one of the UK's biggest selling singles of all time (6 Oct 2013) · Official Charts checked 10 October 2026
- SCB (Statistics Sweden): Sveriges befolkning · SCB checked 10 October 2026
- Wikipedia: Spotify · Wikipedia checked 10 October 2026
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Script
Why does Sweden write so many hits? One Swede, Max Martin, has written 31 US number-one hits. Only Paul McCartney has more: 32. From “…Baby One More Time” to “Blinding Lights”. He learned at Cheiron, a Stockholm studio set up in 1992 by a club DJ: Denniz PoP. Then came DJ Avicii: the first Swedish artist with a song past 2 billion Spotify streams. By one count, only four countries earn more from songwriting abroad than they pay out. The US, the UK, South Korea – and Sweden. Sweden's own answer starts at music school. Almost every municipality runs one, for around $130 a year. Denniz PoP quit his recorder lessons after three tries. Max Martin stayed – and moved on to the French horn.
Sources last checked 10 October 2026.