Västerås rapper Ant Wan, who was not physically present at the gala in Stockholm, is P3 Gold's biggest winner. He was not only named artist of the year by P3 listeners. After also winning in the gold mic category, he can also title himself the year's best live artist.
26-year-old Ant Wan, or Antwan Afram as he is actually called, has in recent years become one of the biggest names in Swedish hip-hop and with his fifth album "The only Wan" took Swedish rap to a new level. The song "Komplicerat" from that album has over 31 million streams on Spotify.
Sold out Avicii arena
Last year, tickets for Ant Wan's gig at Hovet in Stockholm sold out on the day they were released, prompting the organizers to move the gig to the Avicii arena - which was also sold out. Ant Wan started making music a little over ten years ago under the name Råby – named after the area in Västerås where he grew up.
Double win for Maggio as well
Someone who has been active longer than that is Veronica Maggio. It is now 18 years since she released her debut single "Dumpa mig". Since then, she has cemented her place as the queen of Swedish pop and this status is now verified by the P3 Gold jury's decision to crown her the winner in the icon category.
In its justification, the jury stated that "Swedish pop would not have been Swedish pop without her". Her most streamed song on Spotify, "Jag kommer", has over 106 million listens.
Jelassi's first full-length album "Dom har bara gett mig ett name" was awarded as album of the year. The record reflects the rapper's upbringing in Farsta in southern Stockholm and Tunisia. The album revolves around how Fatima Linnéa Jelassi Meijer has tackled childhood as a dandelion child.
- This year's album was my first album - oh, my god, she says from the stage.