2012–2013: Breakthrough with "I Love It" and This Is... Icona Pop
In the summer of 2012, they took part in a number of festivals including electro music festival Summerburst in Gothenburg and also appeared at the Stockholm Stadium, at the start of an international festival and broadcast via Sveriges Television (SVT).
"I Love It", a pre-release of their self-titled debut album Icona Pop charted on Sverigetopplistan, the official Swedish singles chart. The song, which features vocals from British recording artist Charli XCX, was also featured in the 2012 video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted, in a German television commercial for Coca-Cola Light in January 2013, the theme song to the MTV reality-television series Snooki & JWoww, and in an episode of the HBO comedy-drama television series Girls and the popular vampire-teen drama television series The Vampire Diaries. The second single "Ready for the Weekend" was released on 11 September 2012. Both tracks appear on their second EP, released on 16 October 2012. "I Love It" was also used in the commercial for the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Their EP Iconic EP peaked at No. 21 on the U.S. iTunes dance chart. In 2013, they embarked on a tour of the United States with Passion Pit and Matt & Kim. In January 2013, "I Love It" was featured in the third episode of the second season of Girls, the comedy-drama series created by Lena Dunham. Two months later, the duo was named one of Fuse's 30 must-see artists at the South by Southwest festival. The same month, "I Love It" was featured in the 16th episode of the fourth season, "Bring It On", of The Vampire Diaries. On 26 March 2013, "I Love It" was performed on the week 2 results episode of Dancing with the Stars. On 3 May 2013, the duo performed "I Love It" on the NBC late-night talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and on ABC's Good Morning America morning news/entertainment show. Three days later, "I Love It" was featured in the Fox musical-comedy series, Glee. The song was performed by the "New Directions" in Glee's 22nd and final episode of season four, "All or Nothing". It was also featured in a 2013 ShoeDazzle commercial.
On 19 May 2013, the duo performed "I Love It" at the Billboard Music Awards, wearing custom lit outfits by designer Geoffrey Mac. The song was featured in a commercial for the WNBA's forthcoming season that was aired during the 4th quarter of Game 7 of the Heat-Pacers Eastern Conference Championship game on 3 June 2013. It was also featured in a commercial during the Spurs-Heat basketball game on 9 June 2013.
On 4 June 2013, the duo released their single "Girlfriend". Icona Pop revealed in an interview that they recorded their international album with all new songs. They said that "the new album isn't just going to be sixteen tracks like 'I Love It'" and that they are trying new genres and sounds. In July 2013, they received two Teen Choice awards for Choice Music Breakout Group and Choice Single: Group.
On 28 July 2013, "All Night" was released as the official third single from the album. It gained moderate success on European charts. On 4 August 2013, the duo visited Montreal, where they performed at the Osheaga Festival. They also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in December of that year.