Week 47

Yes, we do have the same no 1 track like last week - and the week before. This is the eighth time for Israel IZ Kamakawiwo'ole and his take on Over The Rainbow to stay on top of the German commercial selling charts compiled by media control. That means the Hawaiian singer is the one in 2010 who occupied the no.1 position the most. 8 weeks on top in Germany – that's not really a curiousity. But we have to go back to summer 2009 to find the last track that long as the most sold one. It was Emiliana Torrini's Jungle Drum which was the most loved and most played and most buyed track for complete two months.

You can find a lot of articles and postst about why Over The Rainbow is now that successful only in Germany. The main point is for sure the very long holding back of the track by the music industry. It was some kind of an underground favourite for years but legally available in Germany for the first time back in September this year. As the most German medias acting completely dependent from the big music companies they just started playing the song this autumn. Well - the so called wonder is really home made.

Indeed IZ's success is a kind of a miracle as he is the first star who hold the nr.1 spot for that long post mortem. We all know the phenomenon of huge sales after a famous artist dies. Remembering Michael Jackson or John Lennon. In Great Britain where the music market is very fast and sensitive they shot to number 1 immediately. Not so in Germany. It's a huge and slow market where a "hysteria" takes some time to grow. Michael Jackson's Thriller only matched nr.9 after the star's dead. – So IZ holds a sad record: the (probably) most successfull artist (long time) after his death.


New CD-Single of the Week
Let's go back to living artists. Probably we are facing a new superstar by meeting Bruno Mars shooting his first proper solo track Just The Way You Are up to Nr.2. I really don't know why it took the record company so long to release this track as a CD single. In the U.S. it was released back in July this year climbing to Nr.1, the UK offered the track in September equally hitting the top – finally also German speaking countries can purchase the hit. Maybe the record company wanted to be save launching a success by first introducing Bruno Mars as an accompanying artist with B.O.B. and Travie McCoy. Recently he entered the list as a producer of Cee Lo Green's F**k You. With these references Just The Way You Are could not fail at all.

Bruno Mars - for the first time officially credited within the top 10 has some successfull productions under his belt as well. If you check some popular listings (which ain't 100% proven) he had his hands on Flo Rida's Right Round as well as on K'Naan's Wavin' Flag - for the latter he did the production of the album version.

The Way You Are is one of the most covered songs right now. Check out your favourite video platform and you will find several versions. One of the most impressive to me is the one by Mike Tompkins who did it a capella in a mix with Teenage Dream. And again: really don't understand why German music industry is sleeping that deeply … this man belongs to a proper CD release as well …


Mike Tompkins does Just The Way You Are a capella style

What the music industry does is putting faith in casting shows like X Factor. The German version was aired this autumn for the first time. After a weak start the popularity grew a lot and the final at November 9th was watched by 2,91 Mio. Winner of the show became Edita Abdieski from Berne (Switzerland) - her winning song I've Come To Life was released three days after the final's airing. The track is well produced, Edita does have for sure a strong voice well trained in education and musical performance but all in all this track lacks the real life, the fun, the aura. It is a typical mainstream production forced by major labels and big TV companies. It reaches a lot of people but I doubt that we will find the track in the list for a long time. Even in her home country Edita only made nr.8 - poor Edita, a few seconds of fame, probably that's all she will ever had.

New Beginning

Well – after a few months break I am back again with some very subjective words about what's going on in Germany's music market.

First of all: Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole is still on top with his version of Over The Rainbow. Well – it's his 7th week on top and he is now joining Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP as the track most noted at the very top in 2010. The question now is: will IZ be the track with the highest sales performance next week too? Or will the strongly rising Empire Of The Sun overtake him with We Are The People newly discovered by a lot of people cause of its use in a commercial spot for a mobile company and jumping 22 – 3 this recent week. Rihanna's Only Girl In The World seems to be the everlasting runner's up position track.


Best CD Starts
This week's (sales start at Friday 5th of november) winner is Raise Your Glass by P!NK. The track is taken from her upcoming Best Of-Album and serves the crowd with well known sing-along pop rock. It immediately starts its chart run at nr.5 - highest position since Sober invaded the list almost exactly two years ago and the first top 10 hit after one and a half year.

With only a few sold units less the new Shakira Loca enters the market and the charts. The track was taken from her new album Sale El Sol which entered the album charts a few weeks before. As P!NK the Columbian star is one of the most successfull artists in Germany. The actual battle of their recent tracks mirrors the stand of their commercial success. Well Shakira has four Nr.1 singles under her belt but P!NK leads the statistic with 13 Top 10 hits (three more than Lady Shakira).



The real winner of Loca is small credited British grime star Dizzee Rascal. Accompanying already with Armand Van Helden or Calvin Harris he did not manage it to become a proper music star in Germany. Let's take a look into the British charts. There Dizzee Rascal is one of the hottest artist in the moment counting six(!) Nr.1 hits on his merits, two of them plus a proper nr.2 hit alone in 2010. Finally he gots here some more attention and you could cross your fingers that Loca could be the start for a coming carreer as a main artist here too.

"Looser" of the week are - hmmm - Take That. The 90s super boy group are reunited! But nobody really cares. The collaboration between Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow already failed a few weeks before entering the top 10. Now the proper first single of the group in their original cast miss the top 10 also. The Flood only manages to enter the charts at 12. Even worse - in their home country the United Kingdom they miss the nr.1 slot. British chart commentator James Masterton resumed in a very good way the rise (and fall) of the reunited superstars.
Well - in Germany Take That never made such an astonishing impact. They only had two nr.1 singles and three others entering the German top 10. Complained with that The Flood performs not that bad. It is indeed the best selling track of the band since they reappeared (without Robbie) in 2006.
Robbie Williams alone is much more beloved in Germany. Three nr.1 tracks and nine other tracks entering the top 10 is a clear statement. So maybe he should as soon as possible leave his mates again and release some new solo stuff.

OK - these are the very new CDs in this week. Not bad. We had a very long time in which only a few tracks made it new to the top 20 or higher. Maybe this new occupation means that we can expect some more movement the next few weeks until shortly before Christmas which is in Germany usually a very quiet time - even in music business.