Top Turkish Artists: A Crash Course in Turkey's Soundtrack

Turkish music is deeper than the two or three names that cross borders, and if you're spending real time in Istanbul, the soundtrack matters: these are the artists you'll hear in taxis, at weddings, on rooftops, and, yes, on our dance floors. Here's a crash course in eleven artists, old guard to new wave, that map the country's sound.

The old guard

Tarkan

The reference point for modern Turkish pop, and the one name that genuinely crossed over. 'Şımarık' went to number one in Wallonia and into the top three in France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, and the album it came from, Ölürüm Sana, took close to a million orders on its release day. If you only know the song second-hand, that is because Holly Valance's English cover, 'Kiss Kiss', went to number one in both the UK and Australia in 2002. He still moves the needle in Turkey the way nobody else his age does: a single announcement or a tour date is national news rather than industry news.

Sezen Aksu

Turkish pop as it currently exists is largely her design. Aksu has sold in the region of 40 million albums across 25 studio records since her 1977 debut, and Gülümse alone moved over two million copies. The more useful thing to know is how much of everyone else's catalogue she wrote: she has composed and produced for a long list of the singers who followed her, which is why the nickname that follows her around is less about sales than about authorship. Start with her and a lot of the rest of this list makes more sense.

Sertab Erener

Turkey's only Eurovision winner. 'Everyway That I Can' took the contest in 2003 in Riga, which remains the country's single win in the competition, and it did something unusual for a Eurovision entry by charting properly across Europe afterwards rather than disappearing the following week. Her voice is trained and she uses it, which sets her apart from most of the pop lane she gets filed into. Still touring and still playing the festival circuit two decades on.

The current chart-dwellers

Semicenk

The sound of Turkish streaming right now, and the reason is a specific formula: melancholic, mid-tempo pop-rap built around a plainly sung hook rather than a rapped one, produced for headphones instead of clubs. He works largely with Eva Records and releases at a pace that keeps him permanently in rotation. If you hear something sad and slow playing in a Kadıköy cafe, there is a decent chance it is him or somebody doing what he does.

Mabel Matiz

The one on this list who takes the most risks and gets away with it. His writing pulls from Turkish folk melody and Ottoman-era lyrical register, then sets it against production that would not sound out of place on an international art-pop record, and his lyrics are unusually direct about desire and identity for a mainstream Turkish artist. That combination is why he shows up on critics' lists and in club sets in the same year. Öyle Kolaysa is the entry point.

Simge

Built for the dance floor rather than the headphones, and the difference shows in where you actually encounter her: wedding playlists, club sets and gym speakers rather than sad-hour rotation. Her run from the 'Yankı' era onward gave Turkish pop a string of tracks with the same structure, a big clean chorus over a four-on-the-floor beat, that DJs here can drop in the middle of an international set without losing the room.

Hadise

Belgian-Turkish, and that dual background shaped a career that has run in two markets at once. She represented Turkey at Eurovision 2009 in Moscow with 'Düm Tek Tek', finishing fourth, which is Turkey's best result since Sertab Erener's win six years earlier. Since then she has worked steadily in Turkish pop while keeping a television presence as a talent-show judge, which is why her name recognition here runs well beyond her streaming numbers.

Zeynep Bastık

The clearest example of a Turkish career built on the internet rather than through it. She came up posting acoustic covers, built an audience that way, and converted it into original releases without ever needing the television route that made Hadise a household name. The covers are still a large part of the appeal, and the live shows lean on them, so if you are going to see her expect other people's songs alongside her own.

The other lanes

Ezhel

Turkish rap's clearest international breakout. His 2017 debut Müptezhel moved trap production into Turkish and took the scene with it, 'AYA' with Dutch-Turkish rapper Murda has passed 80 million Spotify streams, and in 2019 the New York Times listed him among fifteen of the most important contemporary European pop artists. He has since been based largely in Berlin, and the Turkish-German axis in his music is not incidental to it.

Duman

Formed in Istanbul in 1999 around Kaan Tangöze's voice, and still one of the two bands that can headline a Turkish festival on name alone. What separates them from a straight grunge act is the folk element: the melodies underneath the distortion come out of Turkish traditional music rather than Seattle, which is why the crowd sings along to songs that are structurally not sing-along songs.

mor ve ötesi

The other one. Formed in 1995, four years before Duman, and they took the more experimental route: alternative rock with the guitars further forward and the arrangements less orthodox. They represented Turkey at Eurovision 2008 in Belgrade with 'Deli' and finished seventh with 138 points, which for a rock band at that contest is a genuinely good result. Cambaz is the one the whole field shouts back at them.

Honourable mentions run long, alt acts, arabesk revivalists and a thriving electronic scene among them, but these eleven give you the map. Build a playlist from them and Istanbul's soundscape starts making sense fast.

Hearing these songs on a proper sound system with a thousand people singing along is a different experience entirely. Follow @ssaucys on Instagram for events, news and more.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the most famous Turkish singer?

Tarkan, internationally and at home. 'Şımarık' charted across Europe and its English-language cover, Holly Valance's 'Kiss Kiss', went to number one in the UK and Australia. Sezen Aksu is the more influential figure within Turkish music itself, having written and produced much of what the singers after her recorded.

Who are the most streamed Turkish artists?

Semicenk, Zeynep Bastık, Simge and Mabel Matiz lead the pop side of Turkish streaming charts, with Ezhel and UZI the two names that dominate Turkish rap playlists. Ezhel's 'AYA' alone has passed 80 million Spotify streams.

What Turkish music should I start with?

Sezen Aksu and Tarkan for the foundations, then Mabel Matiz, Simge and Semicenk for what is actually playing now, plus one Duman or mor ve ötesi record for the rock canon. That covers about forty years in five artists.

Which Turkish artists have won Eurovision?

One: Sertab Erener, with 'Everyway That I Can' in 2003. Hadise finished fourth in 2009 with 'Düm Tek Tek' and mor ve ötesi finished seventh in 2008 with 'Deli', which are the two best Turkish results since the win.

Where can I hear Turkish music live in Istanbul?

Everywhere from meyhane sing-alongs to arena concerts. Beyoğlu's venues host rising acts weekly, the big names play Harbiye's open-air stage in summer, and club nights mix Turkish pop into international sets.