He is most famous for his singing career, when he rose to fame as the blond-haired member of the group Smash!!.

Shortly after they were signed by Universal Music Records in Russia and were one of the biggest Russian pop groups in 2002–2003.

1 hits, numerous awards and sold millions of records in Russia, CIS and East Asia (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand) during their brief career as a group.

!, apparently Vlad and Sergey rehearsed the song as a birthday present to Vlad's father, but after he heard the song he immediately told all his friends and ended up on the radio as one of his friends started playing at a local station.

The following year Freeway was released in East Asian countries including; Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines.

The release of the album was followed by the promotional tour in the South-Eastern Asia, during which the band shot a video clip for the cover-version of George Michael's song "Faith" in Shanghai.

In 2008 Topalov claimed that he was a regular user of cocaine and ecstasy pills and his drug use was a reason in the breakup of the band.