Most successful Croatian musicians revealed 

The hit song “Trebaš li me” performed by Ena Jurišić and Matija Cvek has officially become the most broadcasted song by local artists in Croatia in 2022, according to the data released today in Zagreb by the professional service of ZAMP, the Croatian Composers’ Society.

Processing a total of 294,157 works and over 17.6 million performances of these works in concerts, radio, and television broadcasts, ZAMP’s service, along with the business results of 2022, presented the most successful authors and the most broadcasted songs, led by the collaboration of Matija Cvek and the producer Zvonimir Husnjak, better known as Z++.

After winning the Porin and Cesarica awards, this is another recognition for the hit that spent 20 weeks at the top of the HR TOP 40 singles chart. 

Matija Cvek stated, “Trebaš li me has definitely pushed my boundaries in every sense. It has received wonderful acknowledgments from both the audience and the industry, solidifying my position as a songwriter and performer, and, hopefully, marking a period in Croatian pop music. I am grateful to the song that originated from my thoughts, grateful to Ena for delivering it in the most special way, and grateful to Zvonimir Husnjak Z++ for shaping it convincingly, confidently, and in line with the times we live in.”

The last song recorded by Parni Valjak with Aki Rahimovski, “Ponovo” (music and lyrics by Husein Hasanefendić), was the second most broadcasted domestic song of the year, followed by another name that left us too soon – Massimo and his performance of the hit “Mali krug velikih ljudi” by the author Ivan Dečak.

The winning song of the 69th Zagreb Festival, “Nekad je bilo bolje” by Nenad Borgudan, ranks fourth. Following it are Silente with “Poljubi me za kraj” (authors Tibor and Sanin Karamehmedović), then “Jel’ ti reka ‘ko?” performed by Petar Grašo, who is also the song’s author in collaboration with Vjekoslava and Tonči Huljić. 

The seventh is “Refužo” by Ivo Jagnjić and his band Dalmatino, and the eighth is Massimo’s “Zamisli,” whose initial idea was by Rajko Dujmić and completed by Ivan Dečak. The hit of last year’s Split Festival, “Jube moja znaj” (authors Neno Belan, Nikša Sviličić), performed by Neno Belan and Fiumens, ranks ninth, and the list is concluded by another song from the Zagreb Festival, the one from 2021: “Ptice” by Matija Cvek, written in collaboration with Alan Dović.

At the press conference, Nenad Marčec, the director of HDS ZAMP, presented Cvek, the author of two songs in last year’s top 10, with a microphone as a fitting gift. Marčec stated, “In the future, the voice of this successful musician will be even better heard. We are glad that this valuable and talented artist, along with his collaborators, has refreshed the music scene in recent years. At HDS ZAMP, we have more work with their performances, public broadcasts, and online streaming of their songs, but as the ‘voice of the authors’ whose rights we enforce, we certainly support that.”

The list of the top ten most successful authors in Croatia includes names with a rich catalog of songs that have produced hit songs for decades, which are still enjoyed on the domestic airwaves. In alphabetical order, these names are: Ante Pecotić, Branimir Mihaljević, Husein Hasanefendić Hus, Miro Buljan, Neno Belan, Predrag Martinjak, Tonči and Vjekoslava Huljić, Zdenko Runjić, and Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni.

The most represented regional authors in the domestic airwaves are Dušan Bačić, Edin Šaran, Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga, Nedim Babović, and Zlatko Arslanagić.

The five most popular foreign authors in Croatia are Bruce Springsteen, Ed Sheeran, Sting, Max Martin, and Kevin Richard Parker (Tame Impala). The most broadcasted song by foreign authors in Croatia in 2022 was “Cold heart” by Dua Lipa and Elton John.