Vaya Con Dios: Peak after 20 years

Once again: do you wanna know how slow and oldschool German music business is? Well – let’s have a look at the recent chart list. There are only five (!) new entries within the Top 100 plus 7 re-entries of older hits caused by TV presence or similar reasons. What’s wrong with new music? – There are a lot of fresh tunes around. And nobody cares. TV and radio stations only trust well known productions sometimes for sure they have contracts with major labels. So one can hardly find surprising new sounds there. The unheard tracks and bands are to find in the internet. But in Germany the net is the big enemy. Indeed I really don’t know any German project dealing with the net as a new way of marketing for music. Maybe Germany is the territory where the majors of the world try to install a laboratory how strict they could act. From inside Germany it seems like this.

But let’s stop moaning. There is some interesting stuff around to tell too.
As I told you on Tuesday, Herbert Grönemeyer comes with the biggest German new release this week. Schiffsverkehr is the best sold track in German also. The best production comes – once again – with Milk&Sugar vs. Vaya Con Dios and their Hey (Nah Neh Nah) climbing this week one further place to no. 7. I don’t know how the official rules work but if we take it really serious the Vaya Con Dios recording took 40 chart weeks to reach it highest ranking so far. This is one week more than long time champion Tony Marshall needed in 1972. His Schöne Maid sneaked around the list for (consecutive) 38 weeks until it reached no.3 as its climax. The all time record is held by Wham! which brought their seasonal Last Christmas in its 72nd chart weak to peak position no. 4. That was two years ago. I assume this mark will stand for a while.

Reaching the peak position after 20 years sounds record like. But it isn’t. In July 2009 the King of Pop Michael Jackson reached position no.9 with his Thriller – the highest peak for the song. It charted first 25 years and 5 months before.

Another similar story? Well – the week 4th to 10th February the new movie by Til Schweiger started at cinemas. Simultaneously the soundtrack charted – no.6 at the album list. Second highest new entry. Also some single tracks made it in the chart. At no.3 HURTS sees its new single Stay start. Further down the song from the commercial Breakeven by Irish band The Script finds its way back in the list. Although Breakeven is one of the signature songs of the band it made only no.79 when it was first released as a single in January 2009. Now it returns on download sales only reaching a new peak – no. 71 after two years. (Maybe the three concerts they had in Germany in exactly the same week helped the track also.) Additionally a brand new single Going Through Hell is available in Germany since today.