Alan Walker

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. Walker values his anonymity and is known to wear a hoodie and mask to remain inconspicuous. His musical style is primarily described as house music, 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 songs 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" reached number 80 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He followed it up with the singles "Sing Me to Sleep" and "Alone" in 2016, and "All Falls Down" in 2017, the latter of which reached number one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. In 2018, Walker released "Darkside" and "Ignite". A few months later, his debut studio album, Different World, topped the Norwegian and Finnish album charts, and charted in the top 20 in Sweden and Switzerland. In 2021, Walker released his second album, World of Walker. The album included the singles "On My Way" and "Alone, Pt. II", both of which reached the top five on the Norwegian VG-lista chart. The following year, he released his third album, Walkerverse Pt. I & II, and supported it with Walkerverse: The Tour, which began in September. In 2023, he released his fourth album, Walkerworld, and in 2025, he released his fifth album, Walkerworld 2.0, and, later in 2025, he collaborated with Steve Aoki to make Quantum Beats. 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 one of 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. Alan Olav Walker was born on 24 August 1997, in Northampton, England, to a British father who was a baker and Norwegian mother who worked in elderly care. Walker moved to Fana, Bergen, Norway, with his family when he was two years old. As a child, he was interested in computer games, graphic design, and programming, and spent his childhood playing with Nintendo hardware and home consoles such as the PlayStation and Nintendo GameCube. In 2010, he went on to Danielsen Middle School [no], a private Christian middle school of Bergen. When he was in middle school, Walker began learning music and production through YouTube tutorials and began making music. In 2013, he went on to Danielsen High School [no]. During high school, he often wondered whether he could pursue a career in music. After graduating, he planned to either serve in the Norwegian military or work at a nearby grocery store. In 2012, Walker reached out to Italian music producer DJ Ness, inquiring how he produced his music. In July 2012, Walker began making music on his laptop using FL Studio with the help of friends he met online, and released his first song, "Celebrate" on YouTube. He subsequently posted several more songs on YouTube and SoundCloud. He was inspired by Norwegian music producer K-391 and Dutch music producer Ahrix, as well as film composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky. Starting as a bedroom producer, Walker was better known as DJ Walkzz before he signed a record deal, releasing his debut single in 2014. In 2014, Walker released his debut single "Fade" on the British record label NoCopyrightSounds (NCS), which garnered 200 million views on YouTube between 2014 and 2015 and reached number three on the Swedish Heatseekers Chart. Walker released "Spectre" and "Force" on NCS in 2015. He signed with MER Musikk under Sony Music Sweden and released his next single, "Faded", a remastered vocal version of "Fade", on 3 December 2015. It featured uncredited Naustdal pop singer Iselin Solheim and topped the year-end charts in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, was nominated for British Single of the Year at the 2017 Brit Awards, and won Song of the Year at the annual Spellemannprisen. The music video on YouTube reached 1 billion views on 26 March 2017, and by June 2024, it had been viewed over 3.6 billion times, making it the 28th most-viewed YouTube video. It also became the first EDM song to achieve 3 billion views. As of March 2025, the song has been streamed over 2.1 billion times on Spotify, and was the most Shazamed song in the world in March 2016. "Faded" received official remixes from Tiësto, Dash Berlin, and Hardwell. Walker later released an acoustic version of the song, which did not include any EDM elements. After releasing "Faded" in 2015, Walker dropped out of high school. On 27 February 2016, Walker made his debut performance at the Winter X Games XIX held in Oslo. By March, Walker had produced about 30 to 40 songs in total. "Faded" marked his first single with Sony Music Sweden and was his first to attain global success. Additionally, that same month he achieved the first place on the NRJ Euro Hot 30 for the first time, which only has been achieved by one other Norwegian music producer, Kygo. 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". The single "Sing Me to Sleep" was released in June 2016 and reached number one on the Norwegian charts, winning Norwegian Song of the Year at that year's NRJ Music Awards Norge. Two months later, a remix of this song by American DJ Marshmello was released. In July, Walker released a remix of Coldplay's "Hymn for the Weekend". In October 2016, Walker released a remix of Sia's song "Move Your Body", which was included in Sia's album This Is Acting (Deluxe Edition) (2016). Another single titled "Alone" was also released on 2 December of the same year, featuring uncredited Swedish singer Noonie Bao. On 21 and 22 December, Walker held the concert "Alan Walker is Heading Home" in his hometown Bergen at USF Verftet, where he performed 16 songs and tracks together with singers Angelina Jordan, Marius Samuelsen, Alexandra Rotan, Yosef Wolde-Mariam, and Tove Styrke. The concert was officially live-streamed on YouTube. 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. Between February and April, he toured around America, including attending the Euphoria Festival in Texas. In March, Walker was named one of Billboard Dance's 15 Artists to Watch in 2017. The following month, Walker released an instrumental version of the song "Ignite" featuring K-391. On 19 May 2017, Walker released the song "Tired" featuring Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James. The song reached number 5 on the Norwegian VG-lista charts. He also joined Justin Bieber on his India leg of his Purpose World Tour in May. 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. On 15 September 2017, Walker released "The Spectre", a vocal and instrumental remake of his 2015 song "Spectre". The song was presented at last year's "Alan Walker is