From Jakov Jozinović and Aleksandra Prijović to Butch Cassidy, the regional halls are full, but the question is whether today's performers become new musical legends or just instant viral phenomena
Jakov Jozinović, after ten concerts in Sava Center sold out and Belgrade Arena in a few hours, and as many as 44 thousand people were waiting for tickets. On the other hand, when tickets were released last year for Aleksandra Prijović's New Year's concert in Zagreb, the ticketing system crashed after 1,6 million people tried to buy a ticket.
So, someone is waiting for a ticket for Jozinović, someone for Aleksandra Prijović, and when you look at the YouTube trending - Tea Tairović, Dara Bubamara, Jala Brat, Nucci and Vojaž dominate in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. And then the question arises as to who in the territory of the former Yugoslavia can fill halls and stadiums, but also make people wonder - "Wait, who is listening to this?"
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The answer is not the same for everyone, because the audience no longer gathers around the same kind of stars as it used to. With the Croatian singer Jakov Jozinović, the audience does not necessarily come to hear a new author's expression, but to participate in the joint singing of well-known songs. There was a lot of talk about his popularity in the public and on social networks. Some criticize him for performing only covers of other people's songs, while others see this as the reason why the audience loves him. Therefore, his concerts seem to be a collective recognition of a regional musical repertoire that has passed the test of time and audiences.
Folk is often presented as something that comes back again and again, but it is hard to say that it has ever disappeared.
Aleksandra Prijović was the biggest entertainment phenomenon in previous years. On the "From East to West" tour, she filled three Belgrade arenas, five Zagreb Arenas, three Zetras in Sarajevo and a number of halls throughout the region. Her concerts in Zagreb attracted a lot of attention, because they showed that "cajka" are extremely popular in Croatia.
Similar to folk, turbo-folk in the Balkans doesn't seem to go out of fashion, as evidenced by millions of views on YouTube, as well as sold out concerts.
Proof of this is the regional success of the turbo-folk singer Tee Tairović, who performed in the Belgrade Arena two nights in a row in 2024, and then filled the Zagreb Arena in 2025.
In addition to them, performers coming from the regional trap scene have also been booking big halls in recent years. Jala Brat and Buba Corelli filled the halls, and singer Senidah announced concerts in arenas in Zagreb and Zenica. This shows that the regional audience also listens to new musical genres that are becoming more and more popular and which in some way represent a concert extension of digital recognition.
However, even more alternative bands can hold big concerts. An example of this is the Pančevo duo Butch Cassidy, who performed in front of a full Arena Zagreb in January of this year.
Their success shows that the regional audience still has an ear for something that is not in trend, but it also speaks to the fact that a band with a specific aesthetic that is not intended for a wide audience can also fill the hall.
However, the biggest halls are still full of old faces. Dino Merlin held four concerts in the Belgrade Arena in 2023, and the record is still held by Zdravko Čolić with six consecutive concerts and around 120.000 tickets sold.
Back in 1990, beautiful Brena sang in front of more than 100.000 people at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia, when she descended on the stage by helicopter. However, the regional record is held by the band "Bijelo Dugme" with 220.000 people at a concert at the Hippodrome in 2005.
That's why the question of who are the new Chola and Brena who are filling halls and stadiums throughout the region is not only a question of popularity, but also of the time in which it was created. New acts are disrupting ticketing systems and dominating social media trends, but their popularity is largely generated through algorithms and viral hits that are short-lived, so it's hard to judge whether full houses can indicate that a name on the music scene will last for decades.
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