Alan Walker

Alan Walker turned a bedroom production hobby into one of the biggest stories in EDM history. Born in Northampton, England, and raised in Bergen, Norway, Walker grew up obsessed with video games, graphic design, and programming — influences you can still hear all over his music. He taught himself production, and by his late teens he’d written a song that would change everything.

That song was “Faded,” released in December 2015. Built around soaring, cinematic melodies rather than heavy drops, it became a global phenomenon, going triple platinum in the US and turning into the first EDM track ever to cross 3 billion YouTube views. It set the template for Walker’s whole sound: emotionally driven, melody-first electronic music that leans on house, future house, and progressive house without ever losing the pop hooks.

Walker followed it up with a run of hits — “Sing Me to Sleep,” “Alone,” “All Falls Down,” “Darkside,” “Ignite” — each one building out a bigger sonic and visual world. That world eventually got a name: the Walkerverse, an ongoing lore-driven universe spanning albums, music videos, and now an app. He launched the “Walkerworld” companion app in August 2025, giving fans behind-the-scenes content, livestreams, and direct access, and followed it with his fifth album, Walkerworld 2.0, building further on the concept.

He’s also become one of dance music’s most in-demand collaborators, working across genres with artists like Sabrina Carpenter, Ava Max, Steve Aoki — including 2025’s “Quantum Beats” — and Indian composer Pritam, plus soundtrack work tied to Old School RuneScape. Walker was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe list, and he’s continued touring extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia, packing arenas full of fans wearing his signature mask.

A decade after “Faded” first broke, Alan Walker is still one of the most recognizable figures in electronic music — instantly identifiable by sound, visual identity, and that mask, and still expanding the universe he built from a bedroom in Bergen.