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Martin Solveig

Martin Solveig is the French DJ and producer who turned a cheeky tennis-court music video into one of the defining club anthems of the 2010s, and never really left the party.

By · datastats · Updated June 15, 2026
Martin Solveig

Martin Solveig (born Martin Picandet on 22 September 1976 in Paris) is a French DJ, producer, and remixer who has spent three decades quietly becoming one of Europe’s most consistent dance-music exports. He studied at the prestigious Paris music conservatory before pivoting hard into house and electronic music, building a reputation in Paris clubs before breaking internationally.

His global breakthrough came in 2010 with “Hello”, a gleaming, French-house-inflected pop track featuring Dragonette. The accompanying video, set on a tennis court, soaked in retro-chic style, went viral before “going viral” was a cliché, racking up hundreds of millions of views and landing in charts across Europe and beyond.

Solveig has since collaborated with a wide roster of artists, produced for major pop acts, and kept a relentless touring schedule at festivals like Ultra, Tomorrowland, and Coachella. He also performed at the 2016 Ballon d’Or ceremony, which briefly made headlines for an awkward moment with footballer Ada Hegerberg, an episode he publicly apologized for.

Beyond “Hello,” his catalogue includes club staples like “Rejection,” “Ready 2 Rumble,” “Hey Now” (with Disciples), and work under alias projects. He has remixed everyone from Madonna to Daft Punk, cementing his place not just as a hit-maker but as a serious craftsman of the dancefloor.

People search for him in waves: whenever “Hello” resurfaces in a film, ad, or viral clip, curiosity about the man behind it spikes. He remains one of those artists whose name you might not always remember, but whose sound you absolutely know.

People also ask

Solveig has been publicly based in Paris for much of his career, which is where he was born and raised. He has not made any verified public statements about a specific current residential address, and that kind of private detail isn't something we'd speculate on.

Martin Solveig is French. He was born Martin Picandet in Paris on 22 September 1976, and France has always been the cultural backbone of his sound, rooted in the Parisian house tradition that also produced Daft Punk and Cassius.

Martin Solveig was born on 22 September 1976, making him 48 years old as of 2025. He has been professionally active in music for over 25 years, an eternity in club culture.

No verified or widely reported figure for Martin Solveig's height exists in the public record. Any number you see on random celebrity sites is essentially a guess, so we won't repeat it as fact.

Nothing dramatic, he's still here and still working. The question likely spikes after the 2018 Ballon d'Or incident, where he asked footballer Ada Hegerberg to twerk on stage after she won the award; he apologized publicly and the backlash was significant but did not derail his career. He has continued releasing music and touring since.

No confirmed public information about Martin Solveig being married exists in widely reported sources. He has kept his personal and romantic life almost entirely private, and we won't speculate beyond what's verifiably on the record.

"Hello" (2010), featuring Canadian singer Dragonette, is his signature track by a wide margin, a sleek, French-house-influenced pop anthem that topped charts in multiple countries and has been streamed hundreds of millions of times. Nothing else in his catalogue comes close to its cultural reach, though "Hey Now" with Disciples (2015) and "Do It Right" (2016) with Stream are solid runners-up.

French, see above. Born and raised in Paris, trained at a French conservatory, and proudly carrying the torch of French electronic music on the global stage.

"Hello" has appeared in several TV shows, commercials, and trailers over the years, but it is most prominently featured in the 2011 French romantic comedy **"L'Art d'aimer"** and has been widely used in sports highlight reels and advertising campaigns. It has become a go-to licensing pick for anything needing an upbeat, cosmopolitan European feel, so its exact filmography is long and still growing.

Solveig is a **Scandinavian**, specifically Old Norse, name, common in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. It derives from the Old Norse elements *sól* (sun) and *veig* (strength). In Martin's case, "Solveig" is his stage name, not his birth surname (which is Picandet), so it's an artistic choice rather than a reflection of his personal heritage.

As a given name, "Martin" is of **Latin origin**, derived from Martinus, itself from Mars, the Roman god of war. It spread across Europe through Christianity (via Saint Martin of Tours) and is common in France, Germany, Spain, and beyond. Martin Solveig himself is ethnically French.

He built his reputation the old-fashioned way: years of DJ residencies and club nights in Paris through the late 1990s and 2000s, releasing records on labels like Defected and then his own imprint. International fame arrived hard and fast with "Hello" in 2010, the viral tennis-court video did the heavy lifting that a decade of club credibility had set up perfectly.

By widespread critical consensus and internet complaint, **"All Star" by Smash Mouth** and **"Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen** are perennial offenders. For trailers specifically, Hans Zimmer's "Time" from Inception and the Inception-style "BRAAAM" horn are the most mocked. "Hello" by Martin Solveig does get heavy licensing use, but it hasn't yet earned that notorious "overused" crown.

On the surface it's a playful rejection, the narrator shows up at a tennis court to woo someone, and the object of his affection keeps saying "hello" but refuses to play along romantically. The music video leans into the sports-as-courtship metaphor literally, with a match played to decide the outcome. It's breezy, self-aware, and deliberately light, a pop confection rather than a deep emotional statement.

Yes. Solveig has continued releasing tracks and remixes into the 2020s and maintains an active DJ touring schedule. He may not be dominating pop charts the way "Hello" did, but he's far from retired, he's a fixture at major festivals and keeps a steady output of club-oriented material.

This isn't a Martin Solveig question, but the most famous answer is **"Thick as a Brick" by Jethro Tull** (1972), a single progressive rock composition that fills an entire album side at roughly 43 minutes. In electronic music, extended DJ edits and live sets blur the lines, but no iconic standalone "song" is universally pinned to that exact runtime.

In the UK and US, surveys consistently name **"My Way" by Frank Sinatra**, **"Angels" by Robbie Williams**, and **"Time to Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman** as the most requested funeral songs. Classical pieces like Handel's "Lascia ch'io pianga" and Albinoni's Adagio also rank highly. This has nothing to do with Martin Solveig, but it's a genuinely searched question.

On YouTube, **"Baby Shark Dance" by Pinkfong** holds the all-time record with over 14 billion views as of 2025, an absurd but undeniable fact. On Spotify, **"Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd** has consistently ranked as the most-streamed track in the platform's history. Neither crown belongs to Martin Solveig, though "Hello" is no slouch with hundreds of millions of streams.

By sheer global cultural penetration and cross-era dominance, most music historians point to **"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby** (estimated 50+ million physical copies sold) or **"Something Like That"**, but by modern metrics, The Weeknd's **"Blinding Lights"** and Luis Fonsi's **"Despacito"** are the strongest 21st-century contenders. "Biggest hit ever" depends heavily on whether you measure streams, sales, radio plays, or cultural longevity.

By certified physical and digital sales, **"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby** is the most widely cited all-time best-seller, with estimates ranging from 50 to 100 million copies worldwide since 1942. In the modern era, **"Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran** and **"Despacito"** by Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee are the highest-certified singles of the streaming age. Martin Solveig's "Hello" is a platinum hit in multiple countries, impressive, but not in that conversation.

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