Nico Santos
Quick Facts
Capricorn
Biography
Nico Wellenbrink (born 7 January 1993), professionally known as Nico Santos or occasionally as Santos or Santi, is a German singer-songwriter. In 2017, after having been featured on Topic's hit "Home" (2015), he released his breakthrough solo single "Rooftop", which reached the top five in German-speaking Europe, Poland and Slovakia, as well as number one in the Czech Republic. It also received several certifications, including triple gold by the German Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) and quintuple platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Switzerland (IFPI SWI). Santos' debut studio album, Streets of Gold, was issued in October 2018 and yielded other moderately successful singles alongside "Rooftop", such as "Safe" (2018) and "Unforgettable" (2019).
In May 2020, Universal Music Group released his self-titled second record, which fared well commercially and featured three top 40 hits on the German singles chart—"Better" (2019), "Play with Fire" (2019) and "Like I Love You" (2020). While the former was a collaboration with Lena Meyer-Landrut and the latter with Topic, respectively, "Play with Fire" notably reached number 11 in the Czech Republic. Another top 10, "Would I Lie to You", followed in 2021 in the territory, the same year as Santos released the single "Leere Hände" ("Empty Hands") to great commercial success in German-speaking Europe under his last name only. Santos collaborated again with Topic in 2022 on "In Your Arms (For an Angel)", which was listed on Billboard's Euro Digital Singles Sales and Hot Dance/Electronic Songs charts, among others.
Apart from his solo releases, Santos has co-written or produced songs for a number of German artists, including Bushido, Shindy, Helene Fischer and Mark Forster. His visibility was aided by his participation in the German international song competition Free European Song Contest 2020, which he won with the song "Like I Love You", as well as by his involvement as a coach on The Voice of Germany from its ninth season to the eleventh season.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | SWI | |||
| Streets of Gold |
| 25 | 69 | 29 |
|
| Nico Santos |
| 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| Ride |
| 2 | 42 | 37 | |
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUT | CIS | CRO | CZR | EURDig. | POL | RUS | SVK | SWI | USDance/Elec. | |||||||||||||
| "Symphony" (featuring B-Case) | 2016 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||||
| "Goodbye to Love" (with Broiler) | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Rooftop" (solo or featuring Kool Savas and Kelvin Jones | 5 | 2 | — | — | 1 | — | 3 | — | 4 | 5 | — |
| Streets of Gold | ||||||||||
| "Safe" | 2018 | 24 | 23 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 36 | — |
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| "Oh Hello" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| |||||||||||
| "Unforgettable" | 2019 | 66 | 65 | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
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| "Better" (with Lena) | 15 | 17 | — | — | 19 | — | — | — | 53 | 89 | — |
| Nico Santos | ||||||||||
| "Play with Fire" | 54 | 59 | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | 66 | — |
| |||||||||||
| "Like I Love You" (with Topic) | 2020 | 24 | 32 | — | — | 68 | — | — | — | 41 | 54 | — |
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| "Running Back to You" (with Martin Jensen and Alle Farben) | 80 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||
| "Leere Hände" (as Santos featuring Sido and Samra) | 2021 | 2 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | — | |||||||||||
| "End of Summer" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Would I Lie to You" | 31 | — | — | — | 10 | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "In Your Arms (For an Angel)" (with Topic, Robin Schulz and Paul Van Dyk) | 2022 | 36 | — | 7 | 10 | — | 12 | — | 9 | 9 | 61 | 31 |
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| "Candela" (with Álvaro Soler) | ― | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Weekend Lover" | — | — | — | 30 | 4 | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "All You Need Is Love" (with Nicky Romero and Jonas Blue) | 2023 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Number 1" | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Where You Are" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 74 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER | AUS | AUT | SWEHeat. | SWI | ||||||||||||||||||
| "Won't Let You Fall" (Gigo'n'Migo and Lifters featuring Nico Santos) | 2014 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||||||||||
| "Holding On" (Mr. Da-Nos featuring Nico Santos) | 2015 | — | — | — | — | 42 | ||||||||||||||||
| "Home" (Topic featuring Nico Santos) | 12 | 11 | 10 | 2 | — |
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| "Fastlane" (Jamule featuring Nico Santos) | 2020 | 9 | — | 17 | — | 29 | ||||||||||||||||
| "This City" (Remix) (Sam Fischer featuring Nico Santos) | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||
| "Die Sonne" (Kontra K featuring Nico Santos) | 2023 | 1 | — | — | — | — | Die Hoffnung klaut mir niemand | |||||||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Other charted songs
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| GER | |||
| "Purple Rain" (with Capital Bra and Samra) | 2019 | 50 | Berlin lebt 2 |
Songwriting and production credits
| Title | Year | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| "Wir sind groß" | 2016 | Mark Forster |
| "Roli" | Shindy | |
| "Achterbahn" | 2017 | Helene Fischer |
| "Papa" | Bushido | |
| "So schön kaputt" | SDP | |
| "Lost In You" | Lena | |
| "If I Wasn't Your Daughter" | ||
| "Hellrot" | Prinz Pi, Bosse | |
| "Tausend Tattoos" | 2018 | Sido |
| "Mañana" | 2021 | Álvaro Soler, Cali y El Dandee |
| "Vamos a Marte" | Helene Fischer, Luis Fonsi |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Nomination | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Radio Galaxy Awards | Best Newcomer | Himself | Won | |
| Audi Generation Awards | Music | Won | |||
| 1LIVE Krone Awards | Best Newcomer | Nominated | |||
| Best Single | "Safe" | Nominated | |||
2019 | "Better" | Nominated | |||
| Best Male Artist | Himself | Nominated | |||
| Bravo Otto Awards | Musician National | Nominated | |||
2020 | Bronze | ||||
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | Favourite Singer | Nominated | |||
| Favourite Song | "Better" | Won | |||
| 1LIVE Krone Awards | Best Male Artist | Himself | Nominated | ||
| MTV Europe Music Awards | Best German Act | Nominated | |||
2021 | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | Favourite Singer | Nominated | ||
| Favourite Team | The Voice of Germany | Won | |||
| Bravo Otto Awards | Musician National | Himself | Pending | ||
| 1LIVE Krone Awards | Best Single | "Would I Lie to You" | Won |
