Tonight sees the return of Så Mycket Bättre. It’ll be the eighth series of the TV show, and it’s still one of the biggest and most watched two months of the Swedish television year. Every series, Swedes have watched in their millions as artists have gotten together to perform versions of each others biggest and most loved hits. And every year, some of those new recordings become monster hits as well. Often, the show can give an artist the biggest hit of their career so far, and take them to the next level of superstardom. If they get their covers right….
This year looks set to be the best yet, if the line-up is anything to go by. Eric Saade, Icona Pop, Sabina Ddumba, and Kikki Danielsson are all taking part, as well as Uno Svenningson, Anders Wendin, and Tomas Andersson Wij. So plenty of fodder there to be providing those aforementioned monster hits.
Before that all kicks off though, we’ve taken a look back over the past seven seasons of the show, and the forty nine artists who have taken part. And based on their time on the show and the impact they made on it, we’ve chosen our Top 10 star turns from the whole lot.
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10: OLA SALO
Year: 2014 (series 5)
Pre Show: Lead singer of one of the biggest Swedish bands of all time – The Ark. Went into musical theater after his time in the band.
Post Show: More musical theater and a hit album.
Best Cover: Familjen’s ‘Vi Va Dom’
09: CAROLA
Year: 2014 (series 5)
Pre Show: Schlager legend turned Christmas tour staple, and renowned religious nut.
Post Show: More tours, and yet ANOTHER Christmas album was released last year year. Her fifth, in total.
Best Cover: Orup’s ‘Sjung Hallelujah (Och Prisa Gud)
08: LENA PHILIPSSON
Year: 2011 (series 2)
Pre Show: Schlager legend.
Post Show: Two albums, plus tours and city residencies. She’s still a superstar who can command an audience.
Best cover: Laleh’s ‘Live Tomorrow’
07: AMANDA JENSSEN
Year: 2014 (series 4)
Pre Show: An Idol graduate who managed to shake off that tag within one single, and go on to have a stream of huge records straight away.
Post Show: Despite being the big success story of her year, she’s yet to capitalise on that, and hasn’t released anything since. Absurd.
Best Cover: The Ark’s ‘Calleth You, Cometh I’
06: DANNY SAUCEDO
Year: 2016 (series 7)
Pre Show: A Swedish Idol alum who went on to have four Top 3 albums, countless hit singles, and an occasional stint as a TV host.
Post Show: Launched his Stockholm residency show NU, which was so successful it was extended for a second sell-out run. It launches in Gothenburg next year, during which time we expect to be getting a new Danny album.
Best Cover: Tommy Nilsson’s ‘Snacket På Stan’ (originally ‘Talk Of The Town’)
05: MIRIAM BRYANT
Year: 2015 (series 6)
Pre Show: An indie darling with a handful of great tunes (all featured by us!), but who had never quite crossed over into mainstream success.
Post Show: Her six covers from the show have gone on to clock up a combined 100 million streams on Spotify, and she’s spent what seems like as many weeks on the Svensktoppen chart. She’s certainly found that mainstream success now, with a big hit album ‘Bye Bye Blue’ released this year.
Best Cover: Niklas Strömstedts’s ‘One Last Time’
04: LALEH
Year: 2011 (series 2)
Pre Show: Critically acclaimed domestic superstar for a couple of years in the mid-noughties. It’s fair to say her commercial success had stalled in the few years before the show though.
Post Show: Perhaps the biggest success story to come from the show, it’s given her three huge albums and many more hit singles.
Best Cover: Thomas Ledin’s ‘Just Nu’
03: AGNES
Year: 2013 (series 4)
Pre Show: Idol winner, and Dance! Love! Pop! imperial phase, which earned her a top three hit in the UK.
Post Show: A Greatest Hits album, and then nothing. We’re still waiting. and it’s painful.
Best Cover: Lill Lindfors’ ‘En Så’n Karl’
02: SEPTEMBER
Year: 2010 (series 1)
Pre Show: Internationally successful dancepop icon.
Post Show: She released one more album as September, before dropping the dance music and re-emerging as Petra Marklund – with an album of Kent co-writes.
Best Cover: Petter’s ‘Mikrofonkåt’
01: DARIN
Year: 2012 (series 3)
Pre Show: Eight years of pop superstardom as an Idol graduate.
Post Show: Total reinvention from dancepop to a one-man First Aid Kit. Last year he completed his biggest tour for his most successful album to date, and is set to release the follow-up album next month.
Best Cover: Magnus Uggla’s ‘Astrologen’
And right here you can find all of those songs (and twenty seven more) on our big Best Of playlist;
