Swedish Charts Update

Things have been a little stagnant over the last few weeks in the Swedish singles charts - but I have no complaints about the incredible run at no.1 by September's "Mikrofonkåt" which was finally ended by (inevitably) "Born This Way". Which in turn was knocked off the top this week by Bruno Mars' "Grenade". Yes, not even the Sverige Topplistan is immune to the over-played, over-rated and tedious international hits.

But reassuringly it won't be long till Melodifestivalen-madness takes over the singles chart. Strangely enough though, only Le Kid (no.31) and Dilba (no.20) have cracked the singles chart as yet. Maybe once all the songs are available, after all the semi-finals have been completed, then we'll get a better idea.

In a country with such a strong and varied musical presence, the international hits are dominant. Equalling the Norwegian chart, only 7 of the songs are by Swedish artists. One of these is making a welcome comeback: Veronica Maggio's "Jag Kommer" is an uptempo, catchy left-field pop number and is a more modern sound than the Oskar Linnros-produced retro style of her last album. This time she's musically collaborated with Christian Walz, who wrote and produced the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA9Ln4FuXKc

Daniel Adams-Ray has held down a place in the top 10 for the best part of 5 months with "Gubben i Lådan"...and guess what, he's still there, at no.5!! Here's an acoustic-version of the song from the "Vakna med The Voice" radio show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsSUDWbjRyw&feature=fvst

By the time I publish the next Swedish Charts Update, it'll be Melodifestivalen mania - so let the madness begin :))) ...or maybe not?