Back in 2014, a contestant from the reality TV show Paradise Hotel (Samir Badran) paired up with a fashion blogger and influencer (Viktor Frisk), to form a pop duo and put a single out, ‘Success’. The opening line of the chorus, “ikväll blir det success”, proved somewhat prophetic, though didn’t just stop at one evening – ending summer 2014 as one of the summer’s biggest hits. Six years later (and probably five and half years more than anyone, not least the boys themselves, thought they’d last), they’ve clocked up a total of 13 singles – five of them top-three hits in the Swedish singles chart and three of them finalists at Melodifestivalen. And with those 13 singles, they’ve amassed well over 100,000,000 streams on Spotify alone.
Their infectiously upbeat tunes merge football stadium chants with school disco beats, and we just cannot get enough of them. So much so, that while we wait for the next single to arrive, we’ve taken their 13 songs released to date and given them a ranking from worst to best. Realistically, from the number 11 point onwards, its a minimum of eight-out-of-ten excellence we’re talking about, approaching ten-out-of-ten perfection from number 6 onwards. So it’s a win-win for all involved, really.
And here – we’ve popped them all (aside from the dire song we’ve placed at number 13 on our countdown) into a handy playlist for you to lose your shit to.
Shuffla Shuffla.
13. VA SOM MIG
Their most recent single on which they take a total step away from their usual sound. We hated it, and it remains the only song of theirs not to be given a feature on this website. We pray that it was a one-off rather than a sign of things to come. And we have full faith in the boys to answer said prayers.
12. FICK FEELING
On the one hand, quintessential Samir & Viktor, and yet on the other, them at their most basic. On this one, we felt like they had taken all the usual elements of their songs, and merely phoned them in. But from here on in on this list, it’s top tune after top tune. So strap in.
11. KEMI
Samir & Viktor take the bpm down a notch – but not too much, mind – to deliver a song about romance, as opposed to partying. Our boys growing up before our very eyes, without any kind of assault on the ears.
10. GROUPIE
Their very first Melodifestivalen entry, and arguably the “oj-0j, oj-oj, oj-oj-oj-oj”-trilling moment that Sweden, on a national scale, first fell in love with the pair at their most excitable and adorable – bouncing around a Melodifestivalen final stage in utter disbelief at their own good fortunes.
09. VI GÖR DET ÄNDÅ
A perfect snap-back at their critics that incorporates THE most triumphant key change of their entire career.
08. SUCCESS
Their very first single from back in summer 2014. It’s fair to say that every hit they’ve had since then has stolen one element or more from this so-very-cherished blueprint. Because it sure as hell ain’t broke, and Samir & Viktor therefore don’t need to go fixing anything.
07. RAKT IN I KAKLET
“Vem bryr sig anyway” – and with that very lyric lies the true essence of Samir & Viktor’s pop charm.
06. ODÖDLIG
Samir & Viktor returned last year to prove that they could still score a ten-million-streamed song of the summer, five years after their first hit. Genuinely, most of your faves could never.
05. BADA NAKNA
“We’ll skinnydip in Sergels Torg”. Anyone who’s been to Stockholm will know that this spot is the absolute nadir of the beautiful city. But it made for more of a statement than taking one’s clothes off on Långholmen, we guess.
04. KUNG
A song about living and partying it up like a king. For that is them. Time-stamped, rather unfortunately, with a lyric about dabbing. Though an eternal classic, nonetheless.
03. PUT YOUR HANDS UP FÖR SVERIGE
Tasked with the job of releasing a song to tie-in with support for Sweden in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the boys went right back to the best football tie-in hit of all time for influence – Dario G’s ‘Carnival De Paris’. And they got it so very right. Sweden, if ever you’re in need of a new national anthem….
02. SAXOFUCKINGFON
Everything – EVERYTHING – about this song is so bizarre, that there are really only two chaps in pop music that could ever pull it off convincingly. They did, and five years later, you’re now reading a celebratory post about their career highlights presented to you without a hint of irony. What a duo.
01. SHUFFLA
Samir & Viktor turned out to be one of the very few acts whose Melodifestivalen songs actually get better with each time they enter. And this remains not just their best Mello entry, but their best ever single overall. We were in the UK jury that awarded this song its sole 12 points at the contest in 2018, a fact that we will be proud of forever more.
