Going Dutch

The last couple of years has seen a bit of a renaissance for Dutch artists in the UK (and indeed, international) charts. Holland were responsible for some of the biggest hits of the 90s with acts such as 2Unlimited, Doop, Alice Deejay, Vengaboys and DJ Jean hitting the charts regularly. But then there was a decade of quiet. A country so musically talented seemed to disappear off the international radar almost completely. 



Fast forward to this decade and the Dutch seem to have found their way again. Legendary DJ's Tiesto and Armin Van Buuren have finally scored their first UK top ten hits, with Red Lights and This Is What It Feels Like, while other major emerging Dutch dance stars have hit the big time recently too - Martin Garrix, Bingo Players, Afrojack and Nicky Romero have all had recent UK No.1 singles while Hardwell was voted the World's No.1 DJ. 

Aside from the dance music that the country are so famous for, the recent success doesn't end there. Pop-jazz starlet Caro Emerald has achieved huge UK success. Her debut album, Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor, went platinum while follow-up The Shocking Miss Emerald was a No.1 success here last year. Violinist and conductor Andre Rieu has sold millions of albums in the past few years while legendary symphonic rock act Within Temptation finally scored their first UK top ten album a few weeks ago with Hydra.

The latest Dutch star is hip hop artist Mr Probz. The 29-year-old singer and rapper has achieved a huge international hit with Waves which has gone top five in his homeland, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland and to No.1 in Germany. The UK will soon follow suit, the song is already rocketing up the iTunes chart based on pre-orders alone, and airplay is yet to even kick in here. It seems that the Dutch have once again found the formula for success after more than a decade in the wilderness. They even managed to rediscover their Eurovision mojo, Anouk taking them back to the top ten with Birds last year after they managed to miss the final completely the eight years prior to that!