German track invasion II

A chart week serving us with a few surprises. The biggest ones are told already. But there are still some more left. One of the most impressive chart runs finally ends up within the Top 10 this week. Martin Solveig + Dragonette lift up their Hello to #7. It is an unbelievable seven places jumps. The last weeks it was rising much softer – now the track ultimately catched fire. No wonder – you can hear the catchy hookline everywhere you go: in super markets, on the radio, on the streets … And the song is used within the recent commercial spot for the new Nokia E7 smartphone.



Internationally the track topped the charts in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands. And it went to #13 in the UK. In Germany it took the Canadian band and the remixing DJ full 19 weeks to reach their so far highest position. Meaning they entered the charts in November last year at an underrated #44.
The last track having such a long run to reach its peak was Alicia Keys’ solo take on Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Hearted. It occupied #35 in its 21st chart week at the end of November last year.

The best CD release is done by Chris Brown. But Yeah 3x shows a pretty untypical chart move as it looses one place landing at #9. Usually a newly available CD issue boosts the sales summit. Probably we’re facing here a completely new kind of star, whose audience is more related to the digital use of music.

A look at the German tracks within this week’s list.
Allthough five of the ten new entries this week come from Germany there is on top nothing new. As the last two weeks Lena and her Eurovision track Taken by a Stranger is earning the crown for being the most sold German production. The track dips 7 – 8 … probably it will have its second rise when the big Eurovision show arrives. Also the runners up of the inofficial national list are holding place with decreasing sales: Milk&Sugar vs. Vaya Con Dios are with Hey (Nah Neh Nah) still the German #2 sliding down 13 – 14 meanwhile culcha candela’s Berlin City Girl as the third highest German track (and the first with German lyrics) moves 17 – 16.

The most successful new German production entering the charts this week comes from Jupiter Jones. The band exists already for nine years. They released four albums on the independent label Mathilda and Titus’ Tonträger. Last summer they signed a contract with Columbia Berlin /Sony. Now a new self titled album and a single Still (Silent) were released. It is a soft guitar rock song with a clear romantic note.The track enters the list at #32.



Bullmeister is a young trio originally based in Heidelberg now living in Berlin which offers fresh electro dance pop. Their song Girls Beautiful was chosen by TV channel Pro7 to promote the sixth season of Germany’s Next Top Model.The first episode was aired on 3rd March – one day later the CD was available. It enters the list now at #39. The show itself had caused bigger hits already.



One of the prototypes of German synthie sound is Alphaville. They released a second single from their comeback album Catching Rays On Giant. That album indeed is the second successfull release of the former trio. The released single did not have the massive impact other tracks of the band had. And so Song For No One also creeps only up to #50. Although Alphaville could count as one of the most influential bands in Germany the new single is only their 11th chart hit.

Video: MyVIdeo, the band’s homepage

The hope of German hiphop MARTERIA sets out a second attempt of entering the mainstream. Although the artist is recording tracks since years the commercial breakthrough came last summer first when his album Zum Glück in die Zukunft (For Happiness To The Future) was released by company Four Music. Leading track Verstrahlt (play on words for stoned / lucky also radiated) became a medium hit but different to the usual life of German hiphop tracks it was kind of a long seller entering the list again four months after its release. Sekundenschlaf (Microsleep) is the second release from the album. It is a collaboration with Peter Fox which merges dancehall-reggea-style with hiphop and pop. On this melange MARTERIA is reflecting about the shortness of life, the way of getting older, of passing by youth and the loss of wildness and dreams. Like a lot of German hiphop lyrics these are kind of depressiv and surrendering too. In difference to other artists MARTERIA does not believe in violence or hedonism as a solution. That very grounded attitude might be the reason why he is attractive for a lot of people – but not for typical hip hop fans.
Sekundenschlaf enters the list at #64 – in comparison to its predecessor it is very low down and will probably leave the charts very soon again.

Watch the video here.

A band still waiting for the big breakthrough is JENIX. They earned some publicity by touring with Silbermond and releasing together a charity single for Haiti in summer last year . The CD featured two cover songs by the bands – on that release Here We Go Again found its way to the charts for the first time. Now the original recording by JENIX was released again as a solo CD single. It enters the list at #95.



Carnival caused a small invasion of rising German tracks further down the chart this week. The biggest seasonal seller comes from Cologne band HÖHNER. (dialect for Chicks). Their Schenk mir dein Herz (Give Me Your Heart) jumps 53 – 33. It is a somehow new carnival hit as it was recorded in autumn 2009 and collected only 17 chart weeks so far.
Also No.2 on the list is a new one: entertainer and singer Mickie Krause offered in January his Schatzi, schenk mir ein Foto (Honey, Give Me A Photograph). It entered low down at #77 in its first week dipping in and out the charts the following weeks. Finally it becomes a medium hit jumping to #46 this week. It is the highest position for Mickie Krause since his FIFA world championchip related Orange trägt nur die Müllabfuhr (Only the refuse collection service is wearing orange) went to #31 in 2008.
Most successfull „classic“ carnival hit is So ein schöner Tag (Fliegerlied) (What a beautiful day – Song of the pilot). In 2008 the children song was released by Bavarian DONIKKL finding a lot of fans at Munich Oktoberfest and finally became a chart hit – there are several versions available, most popular became the one by Tim Toupet reaching position 6 in February 2009.
Finding its way back to the upper half of the German chart is caused not only by the regular carneval events. It had big support by the DSDS show (Germany’s version on Idols) featuring Après Ski Hits – which is very close to carnival hits. Marco Angelini performed the Fliegerlied. Well –the track sits pretty this week at #49 in its 50th chart week. It is the highest position since March 2010 – all versions together spent 76 weeks within the charts so far.

The DSDS show helped a lot of further tracks to a boosted chart performance. First of all the new #1 Born This Way by Lady Gaga is a direct effect of the show performance by Zazou Mall. Also the highest new entry Tonight by Enrique Iglesias feat. Ludacris & DJ Frank E had its airing. It was performed by Ardian Bujupi. The Norwegian duo MADCON sees their Freaky Like Me jumping back 17 places into the Top 20 after a performance of DSDS favourite Pietro Lombardi. It is the 16th week of the track and the highest position since beginning of January. And even the track spending most weeks within the German charts – Ein Stern (der deinen Namen trägt) (A Star – which is named after you) by DJ Ötzi & Nik P. – manages to reappear at #81 after a performance in the show.

TV is actually the most proper instrument to launch hits in Germany: DSDS, Germany’s Next Top Model … and since 4th March Die Ultimative Chart-Show also supply the masses with newer and older sounds. The latter one is a very special form: host Oliver Geissen is presenting the best hits under a chosen motto. The show started in 2003 and became very popular. Compilations on CD were released . On 4th March the 90th show was aired under the device „The most successful synthie pop hits“. Within the list and on stage performed Faithless their burner Insomnia which immediately also re-enters the chart at #41. It is the 52nd chart week of the track – counted all versions and remixes since 1997 together.

Looking at the German list sees two female artists entering who are not German but from the neighbourhood and worth be mentioned here as well:
The second song of German X Factor winner Edita from Switzerland comes three months after her first success. Meanwhile she changed her nameonly called by her first name right now. The sound did not change that much – very unspecific mainstream pop. The Key starts its chart life at #51.



And finally french singer ZAZ enters the German market. After Je Veux became a hit in France in May/June last year and later on in Belgium and Switzerland it is a now a new entry at #36 in Germany aussi.