Avicii


Tim Bergling, known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. His musical style is primarily House music, and he is an influence on many artists. Several music publications have credited Avicii as one of the DJs who took electronic music to Top 40 radio in the early 2010s. He is also considered one of the most popular and successful Electronic dance music genre artists of all time.
At the age of 16, Avicii began posting remixes on electronic music forums at the age of 16, and in May 2007, the label Dejfitts Plays signed him. Avicii rose to prominence in 2011 with his single "Levels". His debut studio album, True, blends electronic music with elements of other genres; it received generally positive reviews, peaked in the top 10 in more than 15 countries and topped international charts. The lead single, "Wake Me Up", became a most-streamed song on Spotify. Both his album [Stories (Avicii album)|Stories] and the extended play Avīci (01) reached number one on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart. His third and final album, Tim, was released posthumously and reached number one on Billboard Top Dance Albums chart.
Avicii had health issues throughout his life. In 2012, he was hospitalized for 11 days in New York City with acute pancreatitis caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Between 2012 and 2014, to treat pain from the pancreatitis, Avicii was prescribed opioids such as OxyContin and Vicodin, to which he developed an addiction. In 2014, he underwent surgery to remove his appendix and gallbladder, and entered a rehabilitation facility a year later. Due to these health issues, Avicii announced his retirement from touring in March 2016. In 2018, he died by suicide while holidaying in Muscat, Oman, at an estate owned by the Omani royal family.
Avicii's catalog also includes the singles "Seek Bromance", "Silhouettes", "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero, "You Make Me", "X You", "Hey Brother", "Addicted to You", "The Days", "The Nights", "SOS" and "Heaven". Avicii has won four MTV Europe Music Awards, two International Dance Music Awards, one American Music Award and one Billboard Music Award. He was nominated for a Grammy for his work on "Sunshine" with David Guetta in 2012 and "Levels" in 2013.
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Life and career

1989–2010: Early life and career

Tim Bergling was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 8 September, 1989; he was the son of Klas Bergling, who ran an office supply business, and actress Anki Lidén. He had three siblings: David Bergling, Linda Sterner, and actor Anton Körberg. At age eight, Tim started mixing (recorded music)|mixing] in his bedroom.
Inspired by his brother, who was also a DJ, Bergling began making music at the age of 16; he taught himself to use a pirated copy of FL Studio. In May 2007, Bergling signed with the label Dejfitts Plays. He was a member of the online forumLaidback Luke, where he refined his craft and, at times, demonstrated his distinctive deep house style. During this period, he remixed tracks by Little Boots, Robyn and Dizzee Rascal. Bergling adopted his moniker Avicii, a respelling of Avīci, which means "the lowest level of Buddhist hell", according to Bergling. He chose the moniker because his real name was already in use when he created his page on the social networking website Myspace. In 2010, Avicii released the song "Seek Bromance", which reached the top 20 in several countries, including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. In October 2010, he signed with the European A&R team at EMI Music Publishing.

2011–2013: "Levels"

In 2011, Leona Lewis sampled Avicii's track "Fade into Darkness" on her single "Collide". The samples were not credited and led to controversy, and Avicii attempted to block the single's release. The matter was resolved out of court, and "Collide" was made a joint release between Lewis and Avicii. In October 2011, Avicii released the song "Levels", which launched him into the mainstream. "Levels" reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom, whilst topping the charts in Hungary, Norway and Sweden.
In 2012, Avicii's collaboration track "Sunshine" with David Guetta was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Dance Recording. On 23 March 2012, Pete Tong reviewed Avicii's unsigned single "Last Dance" on Tong's show on BBC Radio 1. At Ultra Music Festival 2012 in Miami, he premiered the tracks "Girl Gone Wild" with Madonna and "Superlove" with Lenny Kravitz. After reaching two million followers on the social media platform Facebook, Avicii released a new song titled "Two Million". On 27 April 2012, he released "Silhouettes", which features vocals from Salem Al Fakir; the song peaked at number five on the UK Dance Singles charts, and number four on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs and the Belgian Ultratop chart.
Avicii was a featured performer on 4 August 2012 at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago's Grant Park. On 12 August 2012, he released "Dancing in My Head", featuring vocals from Eric Turner, on Beatport. On 26 September 2012, Avicii became the first DJ to headline Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He performed two sold-out shows supported by Matt Goldman and Cazzette on 26 and 27 September. At his Radio City Music Hall shows, he played a preview of his new track with Mike Posner titled "Stay with You".
On the same day, Avicii released the song "I Could Be the One", a collaboration with Nicky Romero that features Swedish singer Noonie Bao on vocals. The single entered at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 17 February 2013―for the week ending 23 February 2013―becoming both Avicii's and Nicky Romero's first chart-topping single in Britain. On 9 January 2013, Avicii launched the Avicii X You project, a partnership with Ericsson to create the world's first "crowdsourced" hit song. Avicii acted as executive producer and created the song, which is officially titled "X You" and was released on 26 February 2013. On 30 January 2013, Avicii released "Three Million" featuring Negin to celebrate his Facebook page reaching three million fans.
For "Levels", Avicii was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards on 10 February 2013. From late February to early March 2013, Avicii toured Australia as a headline act in the Future Music Festival alongside The Prodigy and The Stone Roses. In late February 2013, he embarked on his first South American tour, with concerts in Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Chile.

2013–2014: ''True''

In March 2013, during his Main Stage set at the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Avicii announced and premiered new experimental tracks from his new album True, which was released in September that year. Avicii brought out a stomping band to play through the new bluegrass-tinged song "Wake Me Up". Many of the new songs received mixed critical reviews after the concert. That same month, Avicii won Best Artist at the 28th Annual International Dance Music Awards.
The European Broadcasting Union and Sveriges Television announced on 15 April Avicii, and ex-ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson had composed the anthem for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The song was performed for the first time in the final on 18 May.
On 14 June 2013, Pete Tong reviewed the world premiere of Avicii's new single "Wake Me Up" on BBC Radio 1; he song features vocals from Aloe Blacc and was released on 25 June 2013. It was the first single from Avicii's album, [True (Avicii album)|True], which was released on 16 September 2013. "Wake Me Up" peaked at number one on the Spotify Global Chart, and Avicii was the second-most-streamed artist worldwide. "Wake Me Up" spent 14 weeks as the number one hit on Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, a record at that time. The Official Charts Company announced on 21 July "Wake Me Up" had overtaken Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" as the UK's fastest-selling single of 2013, having sold 267,000 copies in its first week on sale. "Wake Me Up" peaked at number one in over 20 countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
In August 2013, Avicii performed his new song "Lay Me Down" with Nile Rodgers and Adam Lambert at Rodgers's fundraiser, "All For The East End". The song, which was released the following month, features Lambert on vocals and Rodgers on guitar. On 19 October, the DJ Mag 2013 "Top 100 DJs" placed Avicii at number three on the list. That same month, Avicii released his single "Hey Brother", with vocals by Dan Tyminski. On 10 November, Avicii won his first award—"Best Electronic"—at the MTV Europe Music Awards. On 24 November 2013, he won the American Music Award for favorite Electronic Dance Music Artist.
In December 2013, Avicii released the album's fourth single, "Addicted to You", which reached number five in Australia, with vocals from Audra Mae, who also sings on the tracks "Shame on Me" and "Long Road to Hell". On 29 December 2013, Avicii debuted his new track "Dreaming of Me", featuring vocals from Audra Mae, via episode 19 of his podcast LE7ELS. On 28 February 2014, his song "Wake Me Up" was Spotify's most-streamed song and became the first song to ever exceed 200 million listeners on the platform. "Wake Me Up" remained the most-streamed song on the platform for 506 days until it was overtaken by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's song "Thinking Out Loud" in May 2015.
On March 8, 2014, Avicii's Instagram account confirmed his collaboration with Madonna, producing the tracks "Wash All Over Me" and "Rebel Heart" for her 2015 album, Rebel Heart. On 21 March 2014, Avicii released a remixed edition of his album True titled True: Avicii By Avicii, containing his remixes of all the tracks except "Heart Upon My Sleeve". The album's promotion was supposed to begin at the 2014 Ultra Music Festival, but Avicii announced he had been hospitalised on 28 March and was unable to play his closing set at the festival. On April 30, 2014,in collaboration with Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean, and Alexandre Pires, Avicii released the official 2014 FIFA World Cup anthem, "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)", which was performed at the closing ceremony on 13 July 2014. It was also included on the album 2014 FIFA World Cup, which was released in the US on May 12.
In May, "Wake Me Up" was nominated for Top Radio Song and won Top Dance/Electronic Song at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. Avicii collaborated with Chris Martin from Coldplay, co-writing and co-producing the track "A Sky Full of Stars" from the band's sixth studio album, Ghost Stories, which was released on 19 May 2014. Avicii also played and recorded the piano parts on the track. "A Sky Full of Stars" was released on 3 May as the second single from Ghost Stories. "Lovers on the Sun", a track Avicii co-produced with David Guetta, was released on 30 June 2014.

2014–2015: ''Stories''

In July 2014, Avicii told Rolling Stone he had worked on 70 songs for his next album Stories, which would include collaborations with Jon Bon Jovi, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Chris Martin, Wyclef Jean and Matisyahu. Avicii described the album as "a lot more song-oriented".
"Lose Myself", a collaboration between Avicii and Chinese singer Wang Leehom, was released on 1 September 2014. The song was created as the theme song for the Storm Electronic Music Festival, which will be held in Shanghai from October 5th to 6th. On 8 September 2014, Avicii's 25th birthday, he decided to cancel his remaining performances that year due to health concerns. The following day, he announced through Denim & Supply he would release his new single "The Days" later in 2014; a video was also featured with a preview of the track. "The Days" is a collaboration between Avicii and Robbie Williams, and was released as the first single from Avicii's album Stories on 3 October 2014, and was included as a bonus track on the album's Japanese versions. On 16 September 2014, EA Sports announced Avicii was debuting a new track called "The Nights" exclusively on the video game FIFA 15. On 17 November 2014, Wyclef Jean released a track titled "Divine Sorrow" featuring Avicii that was part of Product Red's campaign "Share the Sound of an AIDS-Free Generation".
On 2 March 2015, Avicii performed his upcoming single "Heaven" with Chris Martin on vocals live at Australia's Future Music Festival. On 27 March, during his live performance at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Avicii premiered new tracks from Stories, and in April 2015, he released three full sets on the Internet, which included "Heaven", "Waiting for Love", and some of his IDs "For a Better Day", "City Lights", "Can't Catch Me", "True Believer", "What Would I Change It To", "Can't Love You Again", and "Attack".
On 25 April 2015, Avicii announced he would be playing some of his unreleased songs in his show on episode 35 of his podcast LE7ELS. He also previewed his bootleg of Kings of Tomorrow's song "Finally" and his cover of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" with ASH.
On 6 May 2015, Avicii released his rework of Nina Simone's version of "Feeling Good", which was composed in 1964 by the English songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. On 8 May 2015, Avicii previewed his song "I'll Be Gone" via episode 422 of Tiësto's Club Life podcast. It was leaked on the Internet between 2013 and 2014 via the name "Stars" and is yet to be released. It has a similar drop to one of Avicii's IDs "Black and Blue". On 22 May 2015, Avicii premiered another single from Stories, "Waiting for Love", which was co-produced by fellow DJ and producer Martin Garrix, and features vocals from Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost. Avicii was ranked sixth on Forbes list of "The World's Highest-Paid DJs 2015", published in August, with earnings of.
That same month, the Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten confirmed through an interview with Avicii his second album Stories would be released in late 2015. In July 2015, Avicii premiered the album's track "Broken Arrows" featuring Zac Brown of the Zac Brown Band, on Episode 37 of the podcast LE7ELS. On 18 July 2015, Avicii announced he had finished production on Stories after two years of work. On 4 August 2015, it was announced the final singles before the release of Stories would be "For a Better Day" featuring American singer Alex Ebert, and "Pure Grinding" featuring vocals from Kristoffer Fogelmark and Earl St. Clair. "For a Better Day" and "Pure Grinding" were released on August 28.
In September, Avicii's representatives announced to Billboard he would postpone all remaining tour dates for 2015, citing a hectic touring schedule and the pressures of releasing Stories. That same month, Avicii announced th release of "Stories – Megamix" on the music-streaming platform Spotify. Stories was released on October 2, 2015; it reached number one on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart, the Norwegian VG-lista chart and the US Billboard Top Dance Albums chart. In November, Avicii stated on Quora it was "highly likely" a new album will be released in 2016.

2016: Retirement from touring

In early 2016, The Coca-Cola Company announced it was partnering with Avicii to release a global campaign song, "Taste the Feeling", featuring Australian singer Conrad Sewell. The song became the theme for Coca-Cola's UEFA Euro 2016 campaign. On 25 January, Avicii again worked with Coldplay to co-produce the band's single "Hymn for the Weekend", which was released as the second single from their album A Head Full of Dreams. In 2016, according to a report by Inc. magazine, Avicii Music AB was the sixth-fastest-growing company in Europe, with a revenue of €7.7 million in 2014.
On 19 March 2016 at Ultra Music Festival, Avicii debuted new demos such as "We Burn" featuring Sandro Cavazza, "Faster Than Light", "Without You", "Our Love" and "Unbreakable". Ten days later, Avicii posted a message on his website announcing he would be retiring from touring later that year, citing health concerns. On April 7, 2016, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Avicii announced he was working on his third studio album. That same month, he performed at Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as part of his final shows; he performed an unreleased track, "All I Need", featuring Australian singer-songwriter Sia. On 3 June 2016, Avicii released a collaboration with Otto Knows titled "Back Where I Belong".
On 15 July 2016, Avicii released a remix of his song, "Feeling Good", titled "Feeling Good ". On 28 August 2016, Avicii performed his final show at Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel. At the end of 2016, a representative of Avicii Music AB announced Avicii was no longer working with his long-time manager Arash Pournouri, At Night Management and Pournouri's record label PRMD. The representative also announced Avicii had signed with Universal Music Sweden and was expected to release his third studio album in 2017.

2017–2018: ''Avīci (01)'' and ''Avicii: True Stories''

In June 2017, British singer Rita Ora debuted a semi-acoustic version of "Lonely Together" at a private event at Annabel's in London. On August 10, 2017, Avicii released the six-track EP Avīci (01), which reached number one on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart. The album's single, "Without You" featuring Sandro Cavazza, was released on the same day as the album's release, and "Lonely Together" featuring Rita Ora was released the following day, reaching number one and number three respectively on Swedish chart. Avicii uploaded teasers of each track from the EP upon release.
In an interview with Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, Avicii stated the EP is one of three parts of his third studio album. On 11 September 2017, Avicii announced a documentary directed by his long-time collaborator Levan Tsikurishvili titled Avicii: True Stories. The documentary chronicles Avicii's retirement from touring and features interviews from his colleagues David Guetta, Tiësto, Wyclef Jean, Nile Rodgers and Chris Martin. On January 4, American singer Anderson East released the single "Girlfriend", which was co-written with Avicii for Anderson's album Encore.
On 10 February 2018, Avicii released "Ghost", a collaboration with Swedish singer-songwriter Daniel Adams-Ray, who is credited as Human. The song, which was leaked on the Internet in 2014/2015 under the title " In Love with Your Ghost", marks the second collaboration between the two, following "Somewhere in Stockholm" from Avicii's album Stories.
Following Avicii's death that April, news outlets reported at the time of his death, he had over 200 unreleased songs, some finished and others still in development; it was suggested his unreleased material comprised some of his best work. In August 2018, producer Carl Falk, who co-produced some of the songs on Stories in 2015 and Avīci in 2017, stated he was putting the finalising the Chris Martin collaboration "Heaven" and that it might be released in a few months, along with Avicii's third album.

Posthumous releases and tribute activities

In April 2019, it was announced the album Tim, on which Avicii was working before his death, would be released on 6 June 2019, with the lead single, "SOS" released on 10 April. All proceeds from the sale of the album went towards the Tim Bergling Foundation. Later that month, it was announced an official biography of Avicii, written by Swedish author Måns Mosesson, would be released in 2020, with the proceeds also going to the foundation. The second single from the album, titled "Tough Love", was released on 9 May 2019, followed by a music video on 14 May. The third single, "Heaven", was released on 6 June; it was co-written by Chris Martin. The music video, which includes clips of Avicii holidaying in Madagascar after his retirement from touring in 2016, was released on 24 June 2019. On 28 June, Billboard cited "Heaven" as one of the best dance songs of the first half of 2019.
In October, the release of the video game Avicii Invector was announced. Gameplay would include single and multiplayer versions, and players would recreate 25 of Avicii's songs. A portion of the profits was to be donated to the Tim Bergling Foundation. Rebecca May of The Guardian rated the game 4/5 stars, describing it as "an immersive musical tribute". In November, Avicii won Best Swedish Act at the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards, his third win after 2013 and 2018. A tribute-concert version of "Fades Away" featuring singer MishCatt was released on December 5.
On 24 January 2020, the single "Forever Yours", a collaboration with Kygo and Sandro Cavazza, was released. The song was first performed at Ultra Music Festival in 2016. Kygo and Sandro Cavazza performed the song live at the Avicii Tribute Concert at Stockholm's Friends Arena in December 2019. On 15 February, Tiësto premiered three unreleased Avicii singles on his radio show Tiësto's Club Life: a fifth collaboration with Aloe Blacc called "I Wanna Be Free", a fifth collaboration with Sandro Cavazza called "We Burn", and a fifth collaboration with Wyclef Jean called "Now That We Found Love". In April, Avicii's album Tim won Best Album at the 2020 International Dance Music Awards.
In June, "Wake Me Up" was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. On October 30, 2020, the American singer Cam released the track "The Otherside", which Avicii co-wrote. The version included on the the eponymous album does not feature the DJ's original instrumentals, which were removed to align with the album's country style, but it retains the lyrics written by Avicii. A biography titled Tim – The Official Biography of Avicii was released in the UK and North America on 16 November 2021. Kitty Empire of The Guardian described it as "An honest study of the shy young man turned superstar DJ". A second tribute concert was held at the Avicii Arena on 1 December, and a third tribute concert, titled "Together for a Better Day", was held at the same venue on 6 December 2023.
On 14 February 2024, Zac Brown Band's lead singer Zac Brown announced Avicii's remix of their song "Beautiful Drug" would be released on 16 February. On 19 April, it was announced the documentary Avicii – I'm Tim would premiere at the Tribeca Festival on 9 June 2024. Directed by Henrik Burman, the film features interviews with David Guetta, Chris Martin, Nile Rodgers and others. On 23 May, a SiriusXM radio channel titled "Avicii Radio: Music for a Better Day" was launched.
On June 14th, Swedish author Mörs Mosesson published a photo book depicting Avicii's childhood and life, The Life and Music of Tim Bergling, proceeds from which were donated to the Tim Bergling Foundation. At the end of 2024, Netflix released Avicii's final live performance, titled Avicii: My Last Show, which took place on 28 August 2016 at Ushuaïa Ibiza Beach Hotel. The performance was simultaneously released with the documentary Avicii – I'm Tim.
On February 14, 2025, the single "Forever Yours (Tim's 2016 Ibiza Version)" was released. The song was finished in 2016 but since the documentary's release, pressure to release the song increased. A "Creative Journey" video was posted on the same day as the song's release.; it features rare studio footage of Avicii listening to the demo with friends and performing it on his last concert. A greatest hits album, Avicii Forever, was released on 16 May 2025. On November 6, the first episode of the documentary "Stories on Stories" was released on te video-sharing website YouTube. The three-part series includes previously unseen archival footage of studio sessions from 2014 and 2015 that produced some of the songs on Stories. Episode Two was released on 4 December.

Artistry

Influences

When he was asked "Which musicians influenced Avicii?" on Quora, Avicii replied:

Musical style

Avicii's early work was deep house and progressive house, usually based on a four-chord structure, sub-bass and a simple synth melody. His debut studio album True blends musical genres, including folktronica. While making the album, Avicii wanted to fuse electronic music with soul, funk, blues, folk and country, because he felt EDM had become too focused on "dirty drops". Its first single, "Wake Me Up", is a folk music crossover, which according to Katie Bain of The Observer: "tapped into the market potential of mixing EDM and country, a template many artists have since recreated". A Variety editor commented Avicii's "distinct sound" consists of "soaring synths and keening melodies". Ian Youngs of the BBC noted Avicii's biggest hits have elements in common: "insistent, escapist" house music production, guest vocals to "lend accessibility and depth", and "irresistible" melodies. Musicians such as Kygo, Skrillex, Diplo, Gryffin, Martin Garrix and Cheat Codes cited Avicii as a source of inspiration.

Philanthropy

In 2011, after achieving widespread commercial success, Avicii began working with his manager and executive producer Arash Pournouri to start House for Hunger, a charity dedicated to alleviating global hunger. The goal was to raise $1 million from ticket sales for a 25-date US tour that began in January. The goal was reached and the funds were donated to Feeding America. In early 2013, Avicii donated all proceeds from his "Avicii X You" project to House for Hunger.
That same year, Avicii partnered with Macy's to sell a $20 "Play Button" pin, a wearable MP3 player with 1.8GB of free storage and a playlist that included Avicii, Moby, Hardwell and Nicky Romero. As part of this initiative, $60,000 was donated to the FEED Foundation. In 2014, Avicii lent support to HIV/AIDS organisations. In November, he collaborated with Product Red to launch the "Ultimate Year of Music with Avicii". That same month, Wyclef Jean released the song "Divine Sorrow", featuring Avicii, with proceeds going to the Product Red Global Fund. He also supported campaigns against human trafficking and gang violence when he directed the videos for his tracks "For a Better Day" and "Pure Grinding".

Personal life

Avicii enjoyed playing World of Warcraft in his youth. He developed anxiety at a young age, with his parents taking him to a therapist at the age of 14.

Relationships

From 2011 to 2013, Avicii dated an American student named Emily Goldberg. He then dated Racquel Bettencourt, a Canadian student and model with whom he lived in California; the couple separated in late 2014. On the podcast Sofia with an F, Bettencourt said she and Avicii restarted their relationship in 2016, resulting in a pregnancy that was miscarried. At the time of his death, he was dating the Czech model Tereza Kačerová; they had decided to keep their relationship private.

Health

In January 2012, Avicii was hospitalised for 11 days in New York City with acute pancreatitis that was caused by excessive use of alcohol. Between 2012 and 2014, Avicii was prescribed opioids for the pain caused by his pancreatitis, including OxyContin and Vicodin, to which he developed an addiction. In 2014, Avicii underwent surgery and had both his appendix and gallbladder removed. In 2015, Avicii entered a drug rehabilitation facility, announcing in March 2016 he would be retiring from touring. In the 2017 documentary Avicii: True Stories, directed by his close and longtime collaborator Levan Tsikurishvili, Avicii spoke about his physical and mental health struggles. The documentary depicts the pressure from his management to continue performing live in spite of his objections.
Following his retirement, Avicii took up Transcendental Meditation, which he credited with reducing his anxiety, and started seeing a therapist.
High pressure from management and fans to continue touring and maintaining his public persona were cited as key reasons for his suicide, according to GQ. In a statement from the article, "Avicii feared upsetting fans. He was sensitive to the 'flood of hate mail' after cancelled gigs."
Avicii's manager, Arash Pournouri, said he knew of Avicii's anxieties but refused to label them a problem of mental health. His management team became aware of Avicii's painkiller addiction in November 2014 and they staged two unsuccessful interventions for him. Pournouri rescheduled many shows to allow Avicii to recover in Stockholm. Having discovered his client's alcohol issues earlier, Pournouri set out to forbid promoters from offering Avicii alcohol, clearing out his minibar and focusing on his recovery. Problems worsened when there was no crew to "keep tabs" on Avicii during his recuperation. Pournouri met with Avicii's father Klas in 2014 to share concerns about Avicii's health.
Against his Avicii's wishes, Pournouri claimed to have cancelled two more world tours, which would have earned up to approximately US$2.9 million in profits.

Death

Avicii died on 20 April 2018 at the age of 28, while on holiday in Muscat, Oman, at an estate owned by the Omani royal family. Omani authorities carried out two autopsies, and announced on 21 April there was "no criminal suspicion" or evidence of foul play in Avicii's death. A day before Avicii's death, a friend expressed concern about Bergling's mental state to his father Klas. On 26 April, Bergling's family released an open letter stating:
After the open letter was published, many publications and news outlets interpreted it as referring to suicide. On 22 May, Avicii's family announced plans for a private funeral with "the people who were closest to him". The funeral service was held on 8 June at Skogskyrkogården cemetery in Stockholm, and his remains were buried at Hedvig Eleonora Church later that month.

Tributes

From fellow musicians

On 20 April 2018, several hours after learning of Avicii's death, Kygo concluded his set at Coachella by playing "Without You" in memory of Avicii. Onstage, Kygo described Avicii as "a true musical genius". Two days later, American band OneRepublic paid tribute to Avicii by performing his song "Wake Me Up" during their show in Mumbai, India.
On 20 May 2018, American DJ duo The Chainsmokers and American singer-songwriter Halsey paid tribute to Avicii at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards before presenting the winner of the Top Hot 100 Song. The Chainsmokers' Drew Taggart said, "His passing was a great loss for the music world and for us", then delivered an emotional discussion about mental health and emphasized the need for people to love and support each other.
On 21 May 2018, Tiësto played a medley of Avicii's songs at EDC Las Vegas. Aloe Blacc joined Tiësto on stage to perform "Wake Me Up". On 27 May, at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, Rita Ora, Avicii's most recent collaborator, paid tribute to him, describing him as "a really good friend" who "changed life". Ora paid similar tributes at King's Day and Capital's Summertime Ball.
The 2018 edition of Tomorrowland saw several tributes to Avicii from Axwell Λ Ingrosso, Don Diablo, Nicky Romero, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Zedd. All DJs honoured Avicii's memory by playing his music in their sets during the festival, which Michael Thivaios described as Avicii's home. Thivaios continued calling Avicii "one of best friends" and "a great inspiration". Avicii's songs "Levels" and "Wake Me Up" came second and eighth respectively in Tomorrowland 2018's most-played songs.
On 27 July, Russian DJ and producer Arty released a song called "Tim" as a tribute to Avicii, stating: "I made a track for my friend ... I just want to honor his memory. I want to do something right, and in my opinion it's the right thing to do." During the 2018 version of Creamfields, Kaleidoscope Orchestra performed a special tribute consisting of Avicii's greatest dance hits. On 12 October, Vicetone released a song called "South Beach", which they stated was influenced by Avicii's music, is one of the first songs they created, and that they decided to finish and release it as a tribute.
In addition to the live tributes, many other artists—including Eric Prydz, Imagine Dragons, Skrillex, Calvin Harris, Hardwell, Deadmau5, Marshmello, Zedd, and Robbie Williams—also paid tribute to Avicii on the micro-blogging platform Twitter. One year after his death, tributes on social media continued to be paid by Nicky Romero, DJ Snake, Nile Rodgers, the organisers of Tomorrowland, and others. In 2019, Madonna paid tribute to Avicii in her song "Funana" from her album Madame X. In April 2020, Aloe Blacc hosted a 24-hour, livestreamed tribute to Avicii on his YouTube channel; the tribute included concert footage, videos, DJ interviews and fan duets. In November 2021, Basshunter recorded the song "Life Speaks to Me" as a tribute to Avicii.

Other tributes

On 21 April 2018, Malgosia Fiebig played a collection of Avicii's songs on the carillon of bells within Dom Tower of Utrecht.
On 21 May 2018, during the first night of the finale of the fourteenth season of the American reality television talent show The Voice, coach Alicia Keys performed Avicii's "Wake Me Up" as part of her coach duet with the last remaining artist on her team, Britton Buchanan.
On 16 November 2018, Bergling's family organised a public memorial service at Hedvig Eleonora Church in Stockholm, Sweden. Hundreds of fans filled the church to mourn and pay their respects. The service featured an orchestral choir that played music linking to events in Avicii's life and ended with a version of his 2013 hit "Wake Me Up". A source described the service as "very moving" and "a great tribute to Bergling".
At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in February 2019, tributes were set aside for Avicii, American rapper Mac Miller, and American singer Aretha Franklin, who passed away in 2018. In April, a billboard appeared on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California with the words "TIM BERGLING: 1989 – FOREVER" underneath the Avicii logo.
On 30 April 2019, the Mounted Royal Guards and the Life Guards' Dragoon Music Corps of the Swedish Army paid tribute to Avicii during a ceremony at Stockholm Palace, where brass renditions of his songs "Without You", "Hey Brother" and "Wake Me Up" were played.
The 2019 edition of the music festival Tomorrowland included a tribute in the decoration of the festival's main stage.
In September 2019, it was announced a tribute concert would be held in Stockholm on 5 December that year in memory of Avicii. The concert saw David Guetta, Kygo, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Nicky Romero, and Laidback Luke headlining, along vocalists with whom Avicii had worked, playing alongside a 30-piece orchestra, fulfilling one of Avicii's dreams for his music in a live setting. All profits went to the Tim Bergling Foundation. Following the start of ticket sales, the concert sold out in 30 minutes. The following month, Madame Tussauds in New York City revealed a wax figure of Avicii.
On 19 May 2021, Stockholm's Ericsson Globe was renamed the Avicii Arena. To commemorate the new name, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra recorded a performance of the Avicii song "For a Better Day", with vocals provided by 14-year-old Swedish singer Ella Tiritiello.
On 20 April 2023, five years after his death, Tomorrowland paid tribute to Avicii by playing his biggest hits and the album Stories all day on One World Radio. On 25 July 2025, Tomorrowland set up a memorial space at the festival called "Avicii Forever: The Tribute", where fans can watch exclusive and archived footage of the artist.

Legacy

Music innovation

Many artists in the electronic dance music genre have cited Avicii as influences on their work, and many of these paid tribute to him after his death. Alan Walker and DubVision described him as an "icon" in EDM. Norwegian DJ Kygo cited Avicii as " biggest inspiration and the reason why started making electronic music". Other artists such as Diplo, Sebastian Ingrosso, Felix Jaehn and Martin Garrix, the last of whom collaborated with Avicii on his 2015 single "Waiting for Love", have also cited him as a source of inspiration, and the songs "Levels" and "Seek Bromance" were named as points of inspiration.
On the day of Avicii's death, The Washington Post wrote an article calling him a pioneer artist who attempted to bridge the gap between country and electronic music, crediting his 2013 hits "Wake Me Up" and "Hey Brother" as examples of this movement. Avicii is also credited for influencing other attempts at continuing this genre crossover, including songs such as Zedd's "The Middle" and Hailee Steinfeld's "Let Me Go".
Writing the day after Avicii's death, Marcus Dowling of Mixmag described him as "arguably the artist most responsible for electronic music's mainstream pop crossover success", said his 2011 single "Levels" had "elevated electro into the pop cultural stratosphere" and that Avicii had become "a living legend". Several publications credit Avicii as one of the DJs who took electronic music to Top 40 radio in the early 2010s. He is also considered one of the most-popular and most-successful EDM artists of all time.
Avicii influenced a number of mainstream artists outside electronic music. Nile Rodgers said in terms of melody writing, Avicii was "maybe one of the best, if not the best I've ever worked with". Mike Einziger of Incubus said: "Some of the work we did together is some of the music I'm most proud of in my whole life". Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons said: "working with was one of my favorite collaborative moments". Charlie Puth said Avicii was "The man who really opened my eyes as to what my productions could one day sound like". Eric Clapton, who never publicly worked with Avicii, said he was "inspired by Avicii", and dedicated a song off his Christmas album, Happy Xmas, to him.
On 21 November 2019, Billboard named Avicii's 2011 hit "Levels" one of the 100 songs that define the 2010s, while his 2013 single "Wake Me Up" came 13th and was the highest-charting EDM song on the Official Charts Company's chart of the decade.

Mental health awareness

On 26 March 2019, Bergling's family launched the Tim Bergling Foundation, focusing on mental illness and suicide prevention. The foundation works internationally, and aims to educate people and businesses about suicide and mental health. The foundation also works to mitigate climate change, manage business development and conserve endangered species. Since 2019, a number of music-industry figures cited Avicii's death as a reason for the increased awareness of mental health in the industry.

Museum

On 9 June 2020, it was announced an Avicii Tribute Museum would open in Stockholm in mid 2021. The renamed Avicii Experience was opened in February 2022 by Prince Carl Phillip and Princess Sofia, alongside Bergling's father Klas, in Space Stockholm, a digital-culture centre near Sergels torg. The museum features reconstructions of Bergling's childhood bedroom and Los Angeles mansion, and offers recordings of Avicii's most-popular works and unreleased music, and the ability to remix them.
The museum was the idea of Bergling's parents, who wanted to give fans a place to remember and celebrate the work of Avicii, and learn about his music-creation process. The interactive museum also includes exhibitions depicting several stages in Avicii's life, including a simulation of the high-paced lifestyle he experienced before his retirement from touring in 2016. These exhibits are designed to give visitors an understanding of the health issues Avicii faced. Exhibitions are also dedicated to raising awareness of mental-health problems in young people and the wider music industry.

Discography

Studio albumsTrue Stories

Concert tours

In popular culture

  • Avicii was depicted on a Swedish postage stamp issued 15 January 2015 by PostNord Sverige.
  • Avicii was named in the 2015 song "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" by American singer and songwriter Mike Posner. Posner recounts the event when he went to an Avicii show in Ibiza and got a mystery pill from someone, with the starting lyrics "I took a pill in Ibiza / To show Avicii I was cool". The song was made in the week they wrote a song together in Sweden called "Stay with You".
  • Avicii was the codename of the OnePlus Nord, a smartphone released in 2020.
  • On 8 September 2021, Google released a doodle to pay homage to Bergling on what would have been his 32nd birthday during National Suicide Prevention Week.