Point of view: The favorite songs of Swedish and Finnish music influencers have one thing in common: domestic ones are not preferred

Finns and the musical taste of Swedes is generally considered to be quite different from a mutu basis, and there have been facts to support that.

It has been, because until a few years ago there weren’t many Swedish artists among Spotify’s most listened to new hits in Sweden, while in Finland the top was strongly domestic.

According to recent evidence, there are more similarities. Among Spotify’s ten most-listened hits in Sweden on Thursday, there were seven songs by Swedish artists, in the corresponding list in Finland there were nine songs from domestic artists.

Surprisingly the taste of influential people in the music industry is also in the same direction. Sweden’s radio i.e. the Swedish public broadcasting company published on Thursday a vote among Swedish music industry professionals on the best songs of all time.

The list has been compiled with the same principle as Helsingin Sanomat list of the 100 greatest songs of all time published in January 2022. The biggest difference is that no fewer than 300 of the best songs were listed in Sweden.

There were only two Swedish songs in the top 20 of the Swedish chart. Just like the HS list, where there were only two Finns in the top 20.

After all, a Swede became number one in Sweden Robynin Dancing on My Ownwhich was also liked by Finns, i.e. at number 10, also by Abba Dancing Queen was found in the top ten of both countries.

There is no dramatic difference in the degree of domesticity even in the larger sample. Among the top 100 of HS’s list were 18 domestic songs, in Sweden there were 10 domestic songs.

The Top 20 also had eight of the same songs in both countries.

But we are not carved from the same wood in terms of our musical taste. Finns think the Beatles A Day in Life was the second best song, in Sweden it can be found at number 62. Voted second by Swedes Prince-classic Purple Rain was ranked 39th on the Finns’ list.

The songs that ended up on the Swedish list were, on average, slightly newer than in Finland, and the Swedes chose slightly more electronic dance music as their favorites than the Finns.

In Finland, it was fifth on the list by Jean Sibelius Finlandwhich was also the best ranked domestic song. However, the biggest difference can be found in the first place on HS’s list. It was Billie Holidayn Recorded 85 years ago, strongly against racism Strange Fruit.

In Sweden, it is not even among the top 300.