Let’s Make a Sound

Music is a unique art form that can delight, create a mood and bring about change. Recently, the National Broadcasting Service’s website, RÚV, published a list of the most played songs in Iceland over the past year, and it was pretty interesting. Seeing how Icelandic music held its own against the most popular international music was heartening. Almost half of the 30 most-played songs on Icelandic radio were by Icelandic performers. The same was true for the biggest streaming service, Spotify, with 16 of the 30 most played songs being Icelandic.

 

These are the most played songs on Icelandic radio in 2023, meaning all the country’s main radio stations.

1	Ed Sheeran	Eyes Closed	Atlantic
2	Dua Lipa	Dance The Night	Warner Records
3	Diljá	Power (Diljá)	Ríkisútvarpið
4	Emmsjé Gauti	Þúsund hjörtu	Emmsje ehf
5	GDRN	Parísarhjól	GDRN ehf.
6	Loreen	Tattoo	Universal Music AB
7	Júlí Heiðar, Kristmundur Axel	Ég er	Júlí Heiðar
8	David Guetta feat. Anne-Marie & Coi Leray	Baby Don’t Hurt Me	Warner Music
9	Klara Elias	Nýjan stað	Klara Elias
10	Páll Óskar & Doctor Victor	Galið gott	Alda Music

 

These are the ten most streamed songs on Spotify in Iceland in 2023

Then, primarily for fun, here are my most played songs last year: Flowers with Miley Cyrus, then Tusen bitar with Björn Afzelius, Stockholmsvy with Hannes, Sólblóm with Briet, vinir with Elína Hall, Frosið sólarlag with Auður og gususar, Song of Nature with Bon Iver, Ophelia with The Band, The River with Bruce and in tenth place Ekkert þras with Lay Low, Moses Hightower, Egill Ólafsson and Högni.