Nico Santos

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	Released: 12 October 2018 Label: Universal Music Group Formats: Digital download, streaming	25	69	29	IFPI SWI: Platinum
Nico Santos	Released: 8 May 2020 Label: Universal Music Group Formats: Digital download, streaming	3	5	2
Ride	Released: 26 May 2023 Label: Universal Music Group Formats: Digital download, streaming	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	—	BVMI: 3× Gold IFPI AUT: Platinum IFPI SWI: 5× Platinum	Streets of Gold
"Safe"	2018	24	23	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	36	—	BVMI: Gold IFPI AUT: Gold IFPI SWI: 2× Platinum
"Oh Hello"		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	IFPI SWI: Gold
"Unforgettable"	2019	66	65	—	—	7	—	—	—	—	—	—	BVMI: Gold IFPI SWI: Gold
"Better" (with Lena)		15	17	—	—	19	—	—	—	53	89	—	BVMI: Platinum IFPI AUT: Gold	Nico Santos
"Play with Fire"		54	59	—	—	11	—	—	—	—	66	—	BVMI: Gold IFPI SWI: Gold
"Like I Love You" (with Topic)	2020	24	32	—	—	68	—	—	—	41	54	—	BVMI: Gold IFPI AUT: Platinum
"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	IFPI AUT: Gold
"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	—	BVMI: Platinum
"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