Top 10 Most Influential and Important German Music Artists of the 21st Century

This is a list not about the best German music artists of the 21st century, but the most important. These are the artists whose success undeniably shaped contemporary German music and pop culture.

The Top Ten

David Garrett

David Christian Bongartz, known professionally as David Garrett, is a German crossover violinist and recording artist. He is recognized for blending classical and pop music styles in his performances. Garrett holds multiple world records for fastest violin playing and has released several chart-topping... read more
Bushido

Anis Mohammed Yousef Ferchichi, better known by his stage name Bushido, is a German rapper and music producer of Tunisian descent, born on September 28, 1978, in Bonn. He's usually associated with Berlin, where he lives.
Bushido is one of the most commercially successful German hip hop artists... read more

Bushido made German-language hip-hop a big thing at the beginning of the 21st century and remains the most successful German rap artist to date. Several of the big names in the German rap game were influenced by him. He still is a leading figure in German pop culture and heavily polarizing.

After 12 years, "Electro Ghetto" is off the index! Woo hoo!
Now, we need "Vom Bordstein bis zur Skyline" back, the most important German hip-hop record ever.
Tokio Hotel

Tokio Hotel is a pop rock band from Magdeburg, Germany, formed in 2001. The group consists of Bill Kaulitz on vocals, Tom Kaulitz on guitar, Gustav Schäfer on drums, and Georg Listing on bass and keyboard.
They rose to fame in Germany with their 2005 debut album Schrei, when most members were... read more

In the mid-2000s, all of Germany's media was centered around Tokio Hotel, despite the band having been very polarizing since their start. They made emo a thing in Germany (even though it isn't now) and caused several student bands and young solo artists to try out something more rock-oriented. LaFee, Debbie rockt, and Killerpilze owe their success to Tokio Hotel's popularity. Also, Bill's look opened the German music market for androgynous people, like the band Cinema Bizarre, which was influenced by anime and manga.
Helene Fischer

Jelena Petrowna Fischer, better known by her stage name Helene Fischer, is a German pop and schlager singer of Russian descent, born on August 5, 1984.
Fischer established herself as a singer and TV personality in the mid-2000s, gaining popularity both through her music and by hosting her own... read more

Schlager has always been a successful, yet not very acclaimed German genre, primarily listened to by elderly people. In the early 2010s, Helene Fischer released her song "Atemlos durch die Nacht," which became as big as a song can get in Germany. Her "Farbenspiel" album was awarded ten times platinum. Suddenly, the Schlager genre became one of the most popular among German teens, alongside hip hop and as popular as never before.
Cro

Carlo Waibel, better known by his stage name Cro, is a German rapper, singer, producer, and designer. He is represented by Chimperator Productions, a Stuttgart-based music label. Cro is known for popularizing a genre he refers to as Raop, which blends rap and pop music, and for wearing a signature panda... read more

Just when rappers like Kollegah and Farid Bang, known for their masculinity, brutal and dark lyrics, and focus on style, became popular in the 2010s, Cro appeared. He brought an easy-going flow that's almost sung, interpolating pop and indie elements, and rapped about more relaxing topics with simple lyricism in a laid-back style.
Cro's style became instantly popular with modern teens and opened the market for pop, indie, and hip-hop artists with a similar style.
Dieter Bohlen

Dieter Günther Bohlen is a German songwriter, singer, musician, producer, entertainer, and television personality. He is best known as a member of the pop duo Modern Talking. Bohlen has also served as a judge on Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of American Idol.

Simply put, Dieter Bohlen (ex-Modern Talking) is the head behind two extremely successful talent search shows: the German editions of American Idol and America's Got Talent. He writes and produces the winners' entire material as well as several other hits by popular artists, such as Andrea Berg or Yvonne Catterfeld.
Kollegah

Felix Antoine Blume, better known by his stage name Kollegah, is a German rapper of Canadian descent born on August 3, 1984. He is widely credited with helping popularize multisyllabic rhyming and doubletime rapping in German hip hop.... read more

Kollegah's unusually great rapping skills brought the center of attention to multisyllabic rhyming schemes, witty wordplay, and the ability to use double-time rap. Before that, it was more important for German rappers to create a dark tone. After Kollegah's breakthrough in the early 2010s, being a good rapper meant having techniques almost as good as Kollegah. Other newer rappers noted for doing this include Farid Bang, SpongeBozz, and Majoe, among others.
Sido

Paul Hartmut Würdig, better known by his stage name Sido, is a German rapper born on November 30, 1980, in former East Berlin.
In the early 21st century, Sido was one of the first German hardcore rappers. Alongside Bushido, he is frequently cited as an artist who helped bring German hip hop into... read more

Next to Bushido, it was Sido who brought German hip-hop to mainstream attention. However, unlike Bushido, who made gangster rap that was widely copied, Sido was initially known for crass, crude, and politically incorrect humor with perfect delivery, much like Eminem on the Slim Shady LP.
Wir sind Helden

Wir sind Helden is a German alternative pop band that formed in 2000. The group includes married couple Judith Holofernes on vocals and guitar and Pola Roy on drums, along with Jean-Michel Tourette on keyboard and guitar and Mark Tavassol on bass and guitar. The band gained widespread popularity in Germany... read more

Wir sind Helden's unlikely career opened the market for female-fronted German-language bands in the mid-2000s. This included such hugely successful artists as Silbermond, Juli, and Christina Stürmer and her band.
Rammstein

Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte and industrial metal band formed in 1994 in Berlin. The band consists of Till Lindemann (vocals), Richard Kruspe (guitar), Paul Landers (guitar), Oliver Riedel (bass), Christoph Schneider (drums), and Christian Lorenz (keyboard)... read more

The Newcomers

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Scooter

Scooter is a German dance music group that was founded in Hamburg in 1993. The group has sold over 30 million records and has earned more than 80 gold and platinum awards. Known for their energetic performances and electronic hits, Scooter remains a staple in the European dance scene.
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Rosenstolz

The Contenders

No Angels

No Angels were an all-female pop band from Germany formed in 2000. The group consisted of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls. They rose to fame after winning the first season of the German talent show Popstars and became one of the most successful... read more

No Angels were the first successful band formed in a talent search show. They are one of the few who are still remembered today and had several hits even a few years after having won. Without their success, such talent search shows wouldn't have been as big in the years to come.
Hans Zimmer

Hans Florian Zimmer, born September 12, 1957, is a German film score composer and record producer. He has composed music for over 150 films since the 1980s. His most famous scores include those for The Lion King, Gladiator, Inception, and Interstellar.
Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in West Germany. They are widely credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power and speed metal subgenres. Heavily influenced by Queen, they use the technique of overdubbing and incorporate extensive orchestral... read more

The best German metal band. They've been around for more than 30 years, and they are still great.
Die Ärzte

Die Ärzte (German for "The Doctors") is a German rock band from West Berlin. It was formed in 1982 by Jan Vetter (Farin Urlaub), Dirk Felsenheimer (Bela B) and Hans Runge (Sahnie). The current lineup features Farin Urlaub (vocals, guitar), Bela B (vocals, drums) and Rodrigo González (vocals, bass,... read more
Silbermond

Silbermond is a German alternative rock band formed in 2000. Its members are Stefanie Kloß (vocals), Thomas Stolle (guitar), Johannes Stolle (bass), and Andreas Nowak (drums)... read more
Juli

Juli is a German alternative rock band formed in 2001. The group consists of Eva Briegel (vocals), Jonas Pfetzing (guitar), Simon Triebel (guitar), Andreas Herde (bass), and Marcel Römer (drums). They gained national fame with their debut single "Perfekte Welle" in 2004... read more
Herbert Grönemeyer
Felix Jaehn
Peter Heppner
Xavier Naidoo
AnnenMayKantereit
Casper

Benjamin Griffey, born on September 25, 1982, in Lemgo, North Rhine-Westphalia, is better known by his stage name Casper. He is a German rapper, rock musician, and singer-songwriter of American descent. Casper rose to national fame in Germany with the release of his 2011 album XOXO, which debuted at... read more
Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is a German electronic music band formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970 in Düsseldorf. The band was fronted by both Hütter and Schneider until Schneider's departure in 2008. Kraftwerk is widely regarded as a pioneer in electronic music and has had a major influence on various... read more
Gummibär
Nina Hagen

Catharina Hagen, better known by her stage name Nina Hagen, is a German singer-songwriter and actress born on March 11, 1955, in former East Berlin. She gained fame in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Nina Hagen Band. With the band, she released two studio albums before starting a successful... read more