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Alan Walker
Norwegian DJ and music producer (born 1997) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. His songs "Faded", "Sing Me to Sleep", "Alone", "All Falls Down", "Ignite" and "Darkside" have each been multi-platinum-certified and reached number 1 on the VG-lista chart in Norway.[a] Walker values his anonymity and is known to wear a hoodie and mask to remain inconspicuous. His musical style is primarily described as house and electropop, and is characterized by emotionally rich and grandiose melodies.
Walker grew up in Fana, Bergen, Norway, and began making music around 2012. Using feedback from fans online, he later gained recognition by posting several videos on YouTube and SoundCloud. Starting out as a bedroom producer, he was better known as DJ Walkzz before signing a record deal and releasing his debut single "Fade" on NoCopyrightSounds (NCS) at the age of 17. In December 2015, his single "Faded", released on MER Musikk, reached number 80 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[a] After releasing "Sing Me to Sleep" and "Alone" in 2016, he released the single "All Falls Down" in 2017, which reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
In 2018, Walker released songs such as "Darkside" and "Ignite." A few months later, his first studio album, Different World, debuted at number 1 on the Norwegian and Finnish charts, as well as in the Top 20 in Sweden and Switzerland.[a] In 2021, Walker released his second studio album, World of Walker. The album included the singles "On My Way" and "Alone, Pt. II", both of which reached the Top 5 on the Norwegian VG-lista chart. The following year, he released his third studio album, Walkerverse Pt. I & II. To promote the album, he held the Walkerverse: The Tour. In 2023, he released his fourth studio album, Walkerworld, and in 2025, he released his fifth studio album, Walkerworld 2.0.
Walker has won three MTV Europe Music Awards, three Electronic Dance Music Awards, two Spellemannprisen and a NRJ Music Awards Norge. He has been nominated once each for a Billboard Music Awards and a Brit Awards, and twice each for the Echo Music Prize and Berlin Music Video Awards. He has also had seven number one singles on the Norwegian VG-lista charts and is considered the most popular Norwegian artist on the world market. Billboard ranked him 13th in their 2017 Billboard 21 Under 21, he was ranked 11th in DJ Mag's "Top 100 DJs" for 2023 and Forbes named him to their 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.
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Early life
Alan Olav Walker[5] was born on 24 August 1997,[6] in Northampton, England, to a British father who was a baker and a Norwegian mother who worked in elderly care.[7] Walker moved to Fana, Bergen, Norway, with his two siblings when he was two years old.[1][8] As a child, he was interested in computer games, graphic design, and programming,[9] and spent his childhood playing with Nintendo hardware and home consoles such as the PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube.[10]
In 2010, he went on to Danielsen Middle School, a private Christian middle school of Bergen.[11] When he was in middle school,[6] Walker began learning music and production through YouTube tutorials and begain making music.[12] In 2013, he went on to Danielsen High School.[13] During high school, he often wondered whether he could pursue a career in music.[14] After graduating, he planned to either serve in the Norwegian military or work at a nearby grocery store.[15][16]
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Career
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2012–2015: Career beginnings and breakthrough
In 2012, Walker reached out to Italian music producer DJ Ness, inquiring how he produced his music.[16][17] He was also inspired by Norwegian music producer K-391 and Dutch music producer Ahrix,[18] as well as film composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky.[1][19] In July 2012 Walker began making music on his laptop using FL Studio, and posted several videos to YouTube and SoundCloud.[20] Starting as a bedroom producer, Walker was better known as DJ Walkzz before he signed a record deal, releasing his debut single in 2014.[21]
Walker released "Fade" on 17 August 2014.[22] The song was re-released by the record label NoCopyrightSounds (NCS) on 19 November,[23] garnering 200 million views on YouTube in 2014.[16] The track has achieved several milestones, having over 440 million views on YouTube,[24] 115 million plays on Spotify,[25] and 41 million streams on SoundCloud.[26]
Walker released "Spectre" and "Force" on NCS in 2015.[16] He signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, "Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade",[27][28] on 3 December 2015.[29] It featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer Iselin Solheim[30] and topped the year-end charts in Austria,[31] Germany,[32] Switzerland and Sweden,[33][34] was nominated for British Single of the Year at the 2017 Brit Awards, and won Song of the Year at the annual Spellemannprisen.[35][36] The music video on YouTube reached 1 billion views on 26 March 2017,[37] and by June 2024, it had been viewed over 3.6 billion times, making it the 28th most-viewed YouTube video.[38] It also became the first EDM song to achieve 3 billion views.[39] As of March 2025, the song has been streamed over 2.1 billion times on Spotify,[40] and was the most Shazamed song in the world in March 2016.[17] "Faded" received official remixes from Tiësto,[41] Dash Berlin,[42] and Hardwell.[43] Walker later released an acoustic "restrung" version of the song, which did not include any EDM elements.[44]
2016: "Sing Me to Sleep" and "Alone"
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After releasing "Faded" in 2015, Walker dropped out of high school.[45][46][47] On 27 February, Walker made his debut performance at the Winter X Games XIX in Oslo. He performed 15 tracks, including the song "Faded", together with Iselin Solheim.[48][49] By March, Walker had produced 30 to 40 songs in total, "Faded" marked his first single with Sony Music Sweden, and was considered the first to attain global success.[17] On 7 April, he teamed up with Zara Larsson at the Echo Awards in Germany, where they performed each other's songs "Faded" and "Never Forget You".[50] In March, he achieved the first place on NRJ Euro Hot 30 for the first time, which only has been achieved by one other Norwegian music producer, Kygo.[51]
The single "Sing Me to Sleep" was released on 3 June 2016[52] and reached number one on the Norwegian charts,[53] winning Norwegian Song of the Year at the NRJ Music Awards Norge that same year.[54] In July, Walker released a remix of Coldplay's "Hymn for the Weekend".[55][56] In October 2016, Walker released a remix of Sia's song "Move Your Body",[57] which was included in Sia's album This Is Acting (Deluxe Edition) (2016).[58]
Another single titled "Alone" was also released on 2 December of the same year, featuring uncredited Swedish singer Noonie Bao.[59] On 21 and 22 December, Walker held the concert "Alan Walker is Heading Home" in his hometown Bergen at USF Verftet,[60] where he performed 16 songs and tracks together with singers Angelina Jordan,[61] Marius Samuelsen, Alexandra Rotan, Yosef Wolde-Mariam,[62] and Tove Styrke.[63] The concert was officially live-streamed on YouTube.[62][64] He premiered several unreleased tracks, including a restrung version of "Sing Me to Sleep", as well as "Heading Home", the latter of which was first performed during his debut at Winter X Games. The song "The Spectre", a remastered, vocal version of his earlier track "Spectre" was also performed during the concert.[65]
2017–2018: Different World
At the beginning of 2017, Walker's YouTube channel became the most subscribed channel registered in Norway, after passing about 4.5 million subscribers, and had the most views among Norwegian YouTubers at around 13.9 billion views as of 12 May 2024.[66][20] Between February and April, he toured around America, including attending the Euphoria Festival in Texas.[67] In March, Walker was named one of Billboard Dance's 15 Artists to Watch in 2017.[68] The following month, Walker released an instrumental version of the song "Ignite" featuring K-391.[69]
On 19 May 2017, Walker released the song "Tired" featuring Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James.[70] The song reached number 5 on the Norwegian VG-lista charts.[71] He also joined Justin Bieber on his India leg of his Purpose World Tour in May.[72] Succeeding "Tired", the song "Sky" with Danish music producer Alex Skrindo was released on 9 June 2017, and was part of the Insomniac Records Presents: EDC Las Vegas 2017 compilation.[73][74][75]
On 15 September 2017, Walker released "The Spectre", a vocal and instrumental remake of his 2015 song "Spectre".[76] The song was presented at last year's "Alan Walker is Heading Home" event.[63] The song which the remake is based on was released by Walker on NoCopyrightSounds in January 2015.[77] That same month, Walker was ranked 13th on 2017 Billboard 21 Under 21.[78]
Walker's single "All Falls Down", featuring American singer Noah Cyrus, British DJ and music producer Digital Farm Animals and Swedish singer Juliander, was released on 27 October.[79] It reached number 1 on the Norwegian and the Billboard Dance Club Songs charts,[71][80] and the top 5 in Sweden and Belgium.[81][82] Then, on 2 December 2017, to celebrate Walker's YouTube channel reaching 10 million subscribers, a video of him performing with Noah Cyrus and Juliander at YouTube Space NY was released.[83] On 21 October, Walker officially became the biggest climber on DJ Mag's "Top 100 DJs" list, climbing 38 places from last year's 55th place to 17th.[84]
On 31 October 2017, Riot Games released the Alan Walker remix to their League of Legends World Championship anthem "Legends Never Die", which formed a collaboration with American rock band Against the Current.[85] On 17 November 2017, Walker released a remix of Swedish DJ Avicii's song "Lonely Together" featuring British singer Rita Ora. The remix is part of Avicii's official remix package.[86][87]
On 11 December 2017, Walker was scheduled to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert with Norwegian DJ Matoma,[88] but on 20 November, Walker announced that he would be cancelling the performance.[89] In a press release, his record label MER cited "high work pressures and activity levels" as the reason for the cancellation.[90]
In January 2018, Walker appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and performed his 2017 single "All Falls Down" with Noah Cyrus.[91][92] In April, Walker performed at the Coachella 2018 music festival in Indio, California.[93]
On 11 May, Walker and K-391 released a vocal version of the previous year's instrumental track "Ignite". The vocals are by Norwegian singer Julie Bergan and South Korean singer Seungri.[94] The song was performed at VG-lista 2018 with Julie Bergen and Norwegian rapper Vinni and reached number one on the Norwegian charts.[95][71]
On 27 July, Walker released the song "Darkside" featuring Antiguan-German singer-songwriter Au/Ra and Norwegian singer Tomine Harket.[96][97] A remix by Dutch DJ Afrojack was also released.[98] The song reached number 1 on the Norwegian charts and number 10 on the Swedish charts.[71][81]
At the end of August, Walker released a remix of Chinese rapper Lay's song "Sheep" from his solo album Lay 02 Sheep.[99] Prior to the release of the remix, Walker performed a remix of the song with Ray on 3 August 2018, at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois.[100]
The single "Diamond Heart" featuring Swedish singer-songwriter Sophia Somajo was released on 28 September 2018.[101] Two remixes have been officially released, one by Syn Cole and one by Dzeko.[102] The song nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2019 Berlin Music Video Awards.[103] The single also became Walker's seventh number one single on the VG-lista chart.[71] In November, Walker won Best Norwegian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, his third win since last year.[104]
In December, Walker released his debut album Different World. It included previous songs, such as "Faded" and "Alone", as well as new songs, such as "Lonely", a collaboration with American DJ Steve Aoki.[105] The album topped the charts in Norway and Finland and was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.[106][107][108]
2019–2021: World of Walker, Walker Racing League and Collaboration with PUBG Mobile
In early 2019, Walker released "Are You Lonely" with American DJ Steve Aoki featuring Norwegian band Isák,[109] a remake of Walker's song "Lonely" from Different World.[110]
He released the single "On My Way", a collaboration with American singer Sabrina Carpenter and Puerto Rican singer Farruko, to commemorate the first anniversary of the US-based battle royale game PUBG Mobile.[111][112] A cover challenge for the song was also announced and performed during the Good Morning America summer concert series.[113][114] This song peaked at number 3 on the Norwegian VG-lista chart.[71] In April, Walker's single "Faded" surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, making him the first Norwegian artist to reach this milestone.[115]
On 25 June 2019, Walker released the song "Live Fast (PUBGM)", which is a collaboration with American rapper ASAP Rocky. The song became a track for the PUBG Mobile eighth season.[116] Walker performed live at the PMCO Spring Split Global Finals in Berlin as a result of the collaboration.[117][118]
On 17 August 2019, Walker announced his intention to release a remake to the track "Eurodancer" by Swedish DJ and producer Mangoo from 2000, together with K-391 and Norwegian producer Tungevaag.[119] On 30 August 2019, the song "Play" was released as the final result. The vocals were contributed by Norwegian singer Torine.[120] On the website p74y.com allowed people to download the audio file of the song and create their own version of the song. K-391, Tungevaag, and Walker each selected one interpretation of the results, reworked it, and released it as an official remix.[121][122][123] 3 months later, Walker launched The Walker Excavations project on mobile and on his website.[124] The project was a game which featured Easter Eggs that teased fans of upcoming music and content.[125]
On 7 November 2019, Walker joined Antiguan-German singer/songwriter Au/Ra on the Death Stranding: Timefall soundtrack for the action game Death Stranding[126][127] and a new song from the soundtrack, "Ghost" was released.[128][129] The song marks the second collaboration with Au/Ra, following 2018's "Darkside".[130]
End of the year, he released "Alone, Pt. II" with American singer Ava Max.[131][132] The song follows Walker's 2016 single "Alone".[133] Numerous remixes of the song have been released, including those by Niviro, Toby Romeo, RetroVision, and Da Tweekaz, as well as Alex Skrindo's collaboration with Sebastian Wiebe.[134] The song entered the top 10 of the charts in Belgium,[135] Norway,[71] Poland and Romania.[136][137] The official music video of the song was uploaded on Walker's YouTube channel on 27 December 2019. It is a sequel to Walker's video for his single "On My Way" from the same year.[138]
In 2020, Walker performed "End of Time" with K-391 and Ahrix at X Games Norway.[139] He also appeared at Tomorrowland Around the World, the virtual replacement for Tomorrowland 2020, which was cancelled due to COVID-19.[140]
In April 2020, Walker released the single "Heading Home". The song premiered at Walker's debut live show, X Games Norway, in 2016.[141] On 15 May 2020, Walker released a remix of Hans Zimmer's "Time" from Christopher Nolan's 2010 film Inception.[142][143] The song charted in Germany Dance,[144] Hungary, and Switzerland.[145][146]
On 11 June 2021, Walker released the song "Sweet Dreams", which is a collaboration with Kazakh record producer Imanbek. The song samples Scatman John's song "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)".[147] He also released a remix package titled Sweet Dreams Remixes, which features remixes from Brazilian DJ Alok and Dutch DJ Brooks, among others,[148] which charted in both Norway and Sweden.[71][81] The next single, "Don't You Hold Me Down", featuring English singer Georgia Ku, was released on 27 August and marked Walker's third collaboration with PUBG Mobile.[2][149][150] The following month, he released the single "Paradise" with K-391 and Swedish singer-songwriter Boy in Space,[151] which reached number 31 in the Norwegian VG-lista charts.[71]
On 18 August 2021, Walker launched the "ROG Zephyrus G14 Alan Walker Special Edition" a custom gaming laptop created in partnership with Asus and Republic of Gamers (ROG).[152][153] It included Walker's "AW" logo engraved into the laptop and had custom startup sounds and animations for the laptop were also created by Walker.[154][155] The collaboration also centered on Walker's single "Fake a Smile" featuring American singer Salem Ilese.[156][157]
On 10 September 2021, Walker released the EP Walker Racing League.[158] The EP reached in the Swedish and Finnish charts.[81][106] On 13 November 2021, his contract with NoCopyrightSounds expired and his releases on the label ("Fade", "Spectre", "Force") were removed from the NoCopyrightSounds catalogue and from streaming platforms.[159] The following month, Walker released his second studio album, World of Walker, consisting of 15 tracks built around electro-pop and EDM.[160] The album reached number 6 in Norway and number 24 in Finland.[107][106] The album included songs such as "On My Way", "Alone, Pt. II" and "Fake a Smile".[161]
2022–2023: Walkerverse and Walkerworld
In early 2022, he collaborated with Brazilian music producer and DJ Alok to release a remix of Alok's song "Wherever You Go" featuring Swedish singer John Martin,[162] and the single "Headlights" featuring singer Kiddo.[163][164] The single "Headlights" was certified gold in Brazil and Poland.[165][166]
In April 2022, Walker signed with the Swedish crowdfunding website Corite, which allows fans to invest in a music project.[167] Walker raised over $100,000 from fans for his next musical projects,[168] the first being a compilation EP called Origins,[169] while the second was a collaboration with his online community of fans known as The Walkers, called "Unity".[170] The following month, Walker released the single "The Drum", featuring uncredited Norwegian singer Kristin Carpenter.[171]
In June 2022, Walker released the project Walkerverse, which was presented as two EPs and later re-released as his third studio album, Walkerverse Pt. I & II.[172] The first EP, Walkerverse Pt. I, included "Adventure Time" and "Somebody Like U" with Au/Ra.[173] The second, Walkerverse Pt. II, contained nine songs, including "Extremes" with Trevor Daniel and the single "Lovesick", which samples Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5.[174] This was followed by Walkerverse: The Tour, which began in September 2022.[175] The tour, which visited large venues such as Ecostage in Washington, D.C., Radius in Chicago, and the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, began in the UK in September and ran for 29 shows until December in San Francisco, California.[176] A teaser for the tour was also released.[176]
In April 2023, he re-signed with NoCopyrightSounds and "Dreamer" was released. This was Walker's first NoCopyrightSounds release in eight years and also his first release since his original contract expired and his previous releases were deleted.[177] The song reached number 47 on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs charts.[178] The next single, "Hero" with American singer Sasha Alex Sloan, was released on 4 May.[179] The song reached number 1 on the Hungarian radio chart and number 18 on US Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.[180][178]
His single with British singer Zak Abel, "Endless Summer," was released in July 2023[181][182] and ranked 10th on TikTok's "TikTok's Global Songs of the Summer 2023" list.[183] On 28 September 2023, Walker collaborated with Dutch electronic music group Dash Berlin and British YouTuber and musician Vikkstar on the song "Better Off (Alone, Pt. III)", which was Vikkstar's debut single.[184] It is part of Walker's suite of songs including his 2016 single "Alone" and collaborative single "Alone, Pt. II".[185]
On 10 November 2023, Walker released his fourth studio album, Walkerworld.[186] This album includes the song "Spectre 2.0" with Steve Aoki and "Land of The Heroes" with Sophie Stray.[187] The album peaked at number 18 on the Norwegian VG-lista album chart.[107] The single "Heart Over Mind", released at the same time as the album, reached number one on the Belarusian year-end charts and number two on the Russian year-end charts.[188][189] That same month, Walker ranked number 11 on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs.[190]
2024–present: Walkerworld 2.0 and Walkerworld Tour
On 4 January 2024, Walker released the song "Who I Am" with Norwegian singer Peder Elias and Indonesian singer Putri Ariani.[191] On 27 April 2024, Walker performed unmasked during a residency at LIV Nightclub at its Las Vegas location. Five days later, Walker released the song "Unsure" with American singer Kylie Cantrall.[192][193]
This was followed by a series of tours called "Walkerworld Tour" starting in June 2024. The first tour, "Walkerworld Asia Tour Pt. I", began in June 2024 and took place in 10 cities, including Singapore, Jakarta, Macau, and Kuala Lumpur.[194] The next tour, "Walkerworld India Tour", began in September and took place in 10 cities, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi National Capital Region, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Hyderabad, Pune, Shillong, Chennai, and Kolkata.[195][196] Prior to the tour, Walker released the EP Neon Nights on Canadian record label Monstercat in August.[197] He also collaborated with the vehicle soccer video game Rocket League[198] to make songs from the EP available in the game as player anthems during the in-game music festival "Neon Nights", which began on 7 August and ended on 21 August.[199]
To coincide with the start of the tour, Walker released "Children of The Sun", a song with Indian composer Pritam. The song also features the voice of Indian singer Vishal Mishra and incorporates a children's choir.[200]
Walker also performed "Chal Kudiye" a collaboration between Diljit Dosanjh and Alia Bhatt from the film Jigra featuring Bhatt, during a performance in Bangalore on 4 October.[201] Alia Bhatt then came onstage to greet Walker,[202] which drew mixed reactions online.[203][202] The tour ultimately sold approximately 120,000 tickets in nine Indian cities and grossed over $5 million, making it the highest-grossing international tour in India's history.[204][205][206] "Walkerworld Asia Tour Pt. II" began in November, with performances in Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan.[207]
On 10 January 2025, Walker released his fifth studio album, Walkerworld 2.0.[208] The album peaked at number 14 on the Norwegian VG-lista album chart.[107] From January to February 2025, the "Walkerworld North American Tour" took place;[207] starting in March 2025, Walker performed in cities such as Barcelona, London, Berlin, and Paris as part of his "Walkerworld European Tour".[209] The "Walkerworld India Pt. II" tour began in April 2025, performing in Guwahati, Bhuvaneshwar, Hyderabad, and Jaipur.[210] In January, Walker was also named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.[211] In May, Walker released "Story of a Bird", a collaboration with Indian singer and rapper King.[212]
On 29 May, in an interview with Billboard, Walker announced the release of his fan app, "World of Walker" on 8 August. The app offers fans an immersive experience, premium content (including Walker's entire song and video catalogue), behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive weekly livestreams, and direct chat.[213]
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Artistry
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Perspective
Artistic image
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Before becoming "Walkzz", Walker was originally part of several production collectives and called himself "DJ Walkzz". His current logo, which was designed by Walker himself in 2013, consists of the initials "A" and "W".[214][161] To project his image, he uses a hoodie and face mask.[215] When asked why, Walker explained that he wished to "keep a low profile" and for people to "focus on my music rather than who I am as a person".[215][216]
In the first promo pictures his management handed out, Walker's face was barely visible, and in the music video for his single "Alone", he is dressed as a black shadow figure. This is, according to the artist himself, a carefully planned image drawn up together with the record company Sony.[217]
On stage, he is accompanied by two other men who are also masked.[218] Although he used to mostly wear black on stage, Walker now sometimes wears a white mask and hoodie, explaining that, without headlights, artists in black could be difficult to see on stage.[216]
Influences
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Walker took inspiration from a variety of artists such as (clockwise from top) K-391, Hans Zimmer, Tiësto, and Kygo.
Walker was inspired by Italian music producer DJ Ness, who he cited in an interview as "the artist who inspired me to start producing."[219] When making his debut single "Fade", Walker was influenced by the sound of the song "Nova" by Dutch music producer Ahrix.[18]
He has often spoken about the influence of Dutch music producer Tiësto, saying in a 2019 interview with Rolling Stone India:
He's always been a very big inspiration to me growing up. Since I was 9-years-old, Tiësto was obviously everywhere. He has always been a big inspiration and influence, and he has always been able to renew himself in the music industry – that's what is really incredible about him.[15]
He is also inspired by music producers such as K-391, Kygo and Avicii,[220][221][222] as well as film composers such as Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky.[1][19]
Walker is also influenced by video game music, drawing inspiration from The Legend of Zelda series, as well as classic games like Tetris. Other influences include the Call of Duty series and movie music.[10] He also said that video games give his work a "unique sound and atmosphere."[223]
Musical style
Walker's musical style has been described as house,[7] future house,[225][226] future bass,[227][224] electropop,[6][225] electro house,[216][228] big room house,[20][228] and progressive house.[6][20] It is also noted as being significantly darker and closer to minor keys compared to the upbeat rhythms of contemporary tropical house.[9][229] He incorporates elements like video game music into his tracks, leading to descriptions of a "fusion of games and music."[230] Walker describes his sound as "typical", stating that the Nexus plugin in FL Studio defines the entirety of his sound.[231]
Walker's main priorities when creating music are melody, melancholy, and mood. In an interview with Rolling Stone India, he said he does not care about the sound of the drums or bass, but rather focuses on melody and vocals.[15] The production process begins with exchanging ideas to see if other vocalists or producers are interested in working on the song.[15] Regarding themes, Walker himself sometimes writes the lyrics, while other times the vocalist does.[20] In other cases, melody and lyric ideas already exist before a vocalist is considered.[20] When creating melodies, Walker draws inspiration from what he hears or from ideas that suddenly pop into his head.[231] In those cases, he either records a voice memo or writes the melody down immediately.[231]
Walker sees artificial intelligence (AI) as an essential tool for music production. "I think it’s crucial to embrace AI in a time where everything is technology driven. We need to figure out how we can use it to our advantage", he said in an interview with The Times of India.[232]
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Public image and influence
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Perspective
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A former bedroom producer, he has been featured in multiple publications as one of YouTube's biggest success stories.[215][221][234] He is also considered one of the most popular Norwegian artists on the world market.[9] Naman Ramachandran of Variety described Walker as "one of electronic music's most celebrated producers."[235] Audun Vinger of Dagens Næringsliv called Walker "one of the most successful artists in the Norwegian and Nordic music industry in recent years".[236]
According to a YouGov polling as of January 2025, roughly half of Americans have heard of Alan Walker. Half of Americans view him favourably, with 31% of Americans who have heard of him having a positive opinion and 4% having a negative opinion. 48% of respondents said they have heard of Alan Walker. He is most well-known and popular among Millennials and Generation Z, with 60% having heard of him, of which 40% have a positive opinion. He is known by 30% of Generation X and 19% of Baby Boomers.[237]
As of September 2024, Walker has 115 million followers across his social media channels and has generated over 80 billion streams of his audio and video content.[238] As of June 2025, his YouTube channel has over 47 million subscribers, making it the most subscribed YouTube channel in Norway.[239] Walker's channel also surpassed 20 million subscribers in December 2018, making him the first Nordic artist to reach that number.[240][241] His music videos have been viewed more than 15 billion times in total,[239] with three of them, "Faded", "Alone" and "The Spectre", reaching over 1 billion views.[242] His song "Faded" has exceeded 3.6 billion views as of June 2024, making it the 28th most viewed video on YouTube.[38] Walker's Spotify profile has attracted over 41.1 million followers,[243] making him the 36th most followed artist and the most followed electronic dance music artist.[244] Additionally, Walker's TikTok account has over 15 million followers, making him the most followed DJ on TikTok and the only DJ in the world with over 10 million followers.[43] According to Billboard, as of May 2025, Walker's Instagram account has 10.4 million followers.[213]
On the other hand, Walker's songs have been criticised for having too many composers credited. Walker received criticism for a "walk-through" video on the YouTube channel Future Music Magazine about the making of his song "Alone". Because his co-producers Mood Melodies were heavily involved in the song's production, the video drew backlash from many of Walker's fans, who considered Mood Melodies to be his "ghost producers".[245][246] Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende also criticised Walker's song "On My Way" for having 12 composers and nine lyricists credited.[247]
Julie Bergan dispute
Walker and Julie Bergan first collaborated on the song "Ignite", released in 2018. Bergan also sang on Walker's song "I Don't Wanna Go". For both this song and "Ignite", she served as a vocalist rather than a songwriter.[248] In 2022, work progressed on the new song "Ritual", with Bergan participating as a lyricist and vocalist.[249] During final negotiations for the release of "Ritual", a disagreement arose over the distribution percentage of the songwriting credits. Walker's management company, MER, offered Bergan a 5% share, but Bergan demanded 10%. Negotiations broke down, and a version without Bergan's vocals was released.[248]
This decision prompted Bergan's management company, Circle, to prepare a lawsuit against MER seeking damages for breach of contract and unfair use. Circle sent a letter of formal notice through attorneys to Walker and MER.[248] MER stated the damages could amount to millions of dollars.[250] However, MER's attorneys completely denied Bergan's claims.[248]
Furthermore, the music video for "Ritual" included footage of Bergan, which was not removed despite requests that she not appear.[251] The video was later removed from Walker's YouTube channel, but no new footage was released, leaving only a version with still images and audio.[251]
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Philanthropy
On the evening of 1 April 2017, Walker posted on Facebook that he would donate to the Norwegian Children's Cancer Society depending on the number of likes, shares, and comments he received, resulting in a total of 62,564 likes, 24,648 comments, and 6,840 shares, for a total of NOK 254,204 (about $23,000).[252][253]
In 2019, Walker donated $100,001 to Team Trees, a community fundraiser launched by American YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober to plant 20 million trees.[254][255]
On 4 December 2023, Walker donated 500,000 NOK (about $45,000) to Norwegian presenter and footballer Mads Hansen's fundraising campaign, which aims to bring a bright Christmas to families in need across Norway.[256][257][258]
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Personal life
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In 2016, Walker adopted a dog named Happy.[259] In December 2016, Walker purchased a Audi R8 Spyder.[260] In March 2018, he bought a black Ferrari 488 Spider.[261]
In 2019, Walker began dating a Finnish woman, Viivi Niemi.[262][263] In September 2019, Walker purchased an apartment in Nordåsvatnet for $8.2 million.[264]
In February 2021, Walker adopted a cat named Peanut.[265] In July 2021, Walker purchased a villa in Homansbyen, Oslo, Norway for NOK 35 million (about $3.4 million).[266][267] According to Walker's manager Gunnar Greve, the property will be used as both a residence, studio and office, and will become part of the company's business.[268]
In the summer of 2022, he purchased a 2017 Lamborghini Aventador and a Lamborghini Urus.[269]
In February 2023, the BBC estimated Walker's net worth to be $20 million.[168] In September 2023, Walker purchased the luxury villa "Skjöltn" in Bergen, Norway, for approximately NOK 40 million (about $3.5 million).[270] On September 4, 2025, Walker posted on Instagram that his dog, Happy, had died.[271]
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Discography
- Different World (2018)
- World of Walker (2021)
- Walkerverse Pt. I & II (2022)
- Walkerworld (2023)
- Walkerworld 2.0 (2025)
Tours
Headlining
- Walker Tour (2016–2018)[272][273]
- The World of Walker Tour (2018)[274]
- Different World Tour (2018–2019)[275]
- Aviation Tour (2019)[276]
- Walkerverse: The Tour (2022–2023)[175]
- Walkerworld Tour (2024–2025)[277]
Supporting
- Rihanna – Anti World Tour (2016)[278]
- Justin Bieber – Purpose World Tour (2017)[279]
- Martin Garrix – Thursdays at Ushuaïa (2017)[280]
- Kygo – Ushuaïa Beach Hotel for Summer (2017)[281]
- Stargate – Olavsfestdagene (2017)[282]
- Kygo – World Tour (México City) (2025)[283]
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Accolades
Walker was nominated for a wide variety of accolades including Music of the Year from Gullsnutten, Best Norwegian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, the Public Choice Award and Best Norwegian Act at the European Border Breakers Award, Best New Talent at the WDM Radio Awards and Swiss Music Awards, the Export Award at the 2017 Spellemannprisen/Music Norway, Best Norwegian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards, and Best Breakthrough Artist at the International Dance Music Awards, as well as being named Spellemann of the Year at the 2019 Spellemannprisen. His song "Faded" was awarded the Cannes Lions Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Best International Hit at the Eska Music Awards, and the 2017 Spellemann Award for Song of the Year. At the NRJ Music Awards Norge, the song "Sing Me to Sleep" won Norwegian Song of the Year.[284]
References
External links
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