This is Max Martin.
He has the 3rd-most Billboard No. 1 hits of any songwriter in history with 24, behind only Paul McCartney (32) & John Lennon (26).
He's arguably shaped culture more than any other person over the past 25 years, yet almost no one has heard of him.
Thread 👇
Let's back up. Until the 70s, Sweden wasn't exactly known for pop music.
Then ABBA came along. ABBA redefined Sweden's sound & laid the groundwork for a new generation.
One young Swede inspired by ABBA was Max Martin, born just as ABBA was achieving global success.
After a short stint as a musician, Max Martin turned to producing music.
In the 90s, an unknown boy band called Backstreet Boys was sent to Sweden to work with Max Martin. Martin wrote 7 of the 12 songs on their debut album, including their hit single "I Want It That Way".
The next year, a 16-year-old named Britney Spears made the journey from America to Sweden.
Max Martin wrote & produced "Baby One More Time" which sent Britney to the stratosphere.
Martin would go on to write songs like "Lucky", "Hold It Against Me", and "Oops I Did It Again".
In 2004, Kelly Clarkson made the pilgrimage to Sweden and came back with "Since U Been Gone", later voted song of the decade.
Pink followed her and got "So What" and "U + Ur Hand", both No. 1s.
Usher, Avril Lavigne, and Jessie J also all got No. 1 hits after going to Sweden.
Max Martin had become music's go-to hitmaker.
In 2010, he helped Katy Perry become the world's biggest artist. Songs he wrote for her:
I Kissed a Girl
Hot n Cold
California Gurls
Teenage Dream
ET
Last Friday Night
The One That Got Away
Roar
Wide Awake
Part of Me
Dark Horse
Two years later, Max Martin helped Taylor Swift cross over from country to pop.
They released "We Are Never Getting Back Together", which became Swift's first No. 1.
They later worked on songs like "Shake It Off", "I Knew You Were Trouble", and "Blank Space".
More recently, Max Martin has helped artists like Ariana Grande ("Dangerous Woman") and The Weeknd ("Blinding Lights") become among the world's biggest artists with No. 1 hits.
He worked on the latest albums for Adele, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and Lady Gaga.
Max Martin has written 24 Billboard No. 1 hits, most of which he's also produced. He's sold 135 million singles and won 5 Grammys.
Yet most people have never heard of him. Why?
The reason Max Martin is a little-known Swedish concept called "Jantelagen".
Jantelagen basically means that it's not within Swedish culture to brag or show off.
Max Martin is one of the foremost arbiters of popular culture, single-handedly defining music for the last generation.
And because of Jantelagen, he's happy to move culture from the background.
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.