German track invasion

Sorry for being delayed. There is so much action going on in this world right now that one could mention mainstream pop as the most unimportant topic to talk about. Even in Germany polititians and blogging journalists are arguing heavily about what the accident in Fukushima after the earthquake and tsunami means to technological development in Germany. Nuclear energy or even better the end of it is a highly discussed topic in Germany since last summer. The world of pop meanwhile does not really take notice of the event.

The actual list of Friday 11th March is referring to sales within the week 25th February to 3rd March. One of the significant actions going on is the rise of hollywood hills offered by Sunrise Ave. The soft rock track of the Finnish band is one of the most played at German radio stations. So the physical release on 25th February gives the track a boost in sale making it rise 11 – 6. It is the second timethat Sunrise Ave can reach the upper places within the German list. Their only Top 10 hit before Fairytale Gone Bad went #3 in early 2007 – it is one of the tracks spending most weeks in the charts by collecting 70 weeks till today.

Having a second top10 track here Germany becomes the area where the band is most popular. Even in their home country Finland they only had two top 10 tracks. hollywood hills so far did not go further than #13. Expect the song staying within the German top 10 – the iTunes list notes the track at #4 (13th March) after they performed it live at Stefan Eaab’s WOK WM 2011 on 11th March.

Another Scandinavian act is gaining increasing popularity in Germany. Swedish Roxette climb with their comeback track She’s Got Nothing On (But The Radio) to #10. After 19 years they have finally a new track inside the top 10 in Germany. It is their ninth doing so. The recent album Charm School is listed at #7 in its 3rd chart week.

All in all we do have five European tracks inside the German top 10. The other half is completely occipied by US American acts.
Most popular (saying: most sold) German track is still Taken by a Stranger by Eurovision star Lena. The complete single’s ranking sees her falling 2 – 7 in its second week. Finally a video is available also:



Talking about German tracks – the most successfull new CD coming from Germany is another of the type: former GDR star gets its first commercial single hit more than 20 years after Germany’s unity. The artist I’m talking about is Ute Freudenberg. In the early 80s she was one of the most popular female artists in East Germany. In 1981 she had accompanied by her band Elefant a huge hit with Jugendliebe (Early Love). It is till today her most popular song. A voting by magazin Super Illu a few years ago proved it. In 1984 Ute Freudenberg exiled to Western Germany. She worked still as a singer but never managed to have broader success. Now in 2011 she finally can reach the masses. Accompanied with Christian Lais who had a small hit two years ago she tells the story about the life in cold war times. Auf den Dächern von Berlin (On The Tops Of Berlin) is kind of a romantic memory about youth life in East and West. Avoiding any critic look at the former times it heavily recalls the feeling of „At that time everything was much better …“ – a typical attitude of so called Schlager (the German term for soft pop songs sung in German and listened to mostly by an elder audience). After Silly one year before and Puhdys just two weeks ago Ute Freudenberg is now the third artist of the GDR who gets a first chart entry. Only Silly managed to do so on her own power (but not in original cast – cause former lead singer Tamara Danz died in 1996). The question is now: will more acts follow? Is 20 years of German unity enough to refer back to both cultures? I will keep watching it.



Next new track of a German producer comes at #45. DJ Ronny Rockstroh was creating kind of a new style in dance music. He combined electro dancefloor with German vocals – not only short screams but real lyrics. His first offering Licht (Light) gave him an entry at #75 in 2009. Last year he had success with Tanzen (Dancing) which was licensed by a major label blowing the track up to #37 as CD release. Now the new track Wolke 7 (Cloud #7) is available. As I found out the Kick Fresh label has released the track digital and on vinyl so far. A proper physical release on vinyl is not officially announced. Entering #45 this week the releae schedule will be re-written probably. Simple lyrics and a cliché serving video will help the track finding its way to the masses. The DDC dance chart lists the track at #4, the ODC dance chart show #8 and the Dance 50 have Wolke 7 at #2.



Back in German chart is band Wir sind Helden (We are Heroes). Singer of the band Judith Holofernes just had unintended promotion. Leading yellow press paper BILD requested her to give a personal statement for an ad campaign. She declined with an open letter calling the papaer a „dangerous political instrument”. Nonetheless BILD used the letter for an advertisement. That episode was discussed heavily within the German blogosphere. The mainstream market aint that impressed in contrast. New single of Wir sind Helden Alles auf Anfang (Back to square one) enters the German list at #63.



And yet another German release. To be more precise: a release under German participation. The USAmerican-Canadian-German band The Black Pony had its chart debut in December last year. Boys Are Crazy spent two weeks in the list climbing to #69.Scars And Bruises now has to promote the upcoming album Launched In The Pool scheduled for 18th March. The single enters the chart at #72.



Lower down between rank 80 to 100 a lot of other German releases are crowding into the chart. New tracks and older ones all are related to carnival – the so called fifth season which is very important to the German music business. You will see projects like Bläck Fööss (Black Feet) or Räuber (Bandits) rising much higher next week. This issue is with 21 tracks not listed a fortnight before the most turned around of this year so far.

Not a German production but popular right now in German speaking countries only cause of its use within the German movie Kokowäh (German transliteration of „Coq au vin“) is Snowflakes by White Apple Tree. The US American synth pop trio aint well known even in their home country. They had their album debut almost one year ago with the Velvet Mustache not including the 2008 single Snowflakes. Now – with long lasting success of the movie (in its fifth week Kokowäh still holds #2 within the movie charts) UNIVERSAL decided to release the track as a full CD single including a new remix by movie maker and actor Til Schweiger. Two weeks ahead the download only track enters the chart at #31. It seems to be certain having the track soon much higher – probably top 10. Chances of getting similar success in the US are quite small. The very 80s influenced sound attracts European music lovers much more. Snowflakes is by the way the third track of the Kokowäh sound track which enters the charts. Predecessors were HURTS and The Script.



Last story about German specific chart actions: there were a few older pop tracks re-entering the charts in the last few weeks. Most of them were caused by a performance within the DSDS – Deutschland sucht den Superstar show (Germany is searching for superstar – German version on Idols). The first proper show backing the battle of the last 10 favourites was aired on 26. February featuring the topic „Super Hits”. Although some blogs saw Sebastian Wurth as the best performer the song attracting most viewers was With You performed by 18year old Pietro Lombardi. The original version by Chris Brown was a medium hit in 2008 reaching #33. Now the track appears again at #51.



You Raise Me Up performed in the show by Sebastian Wurth is back at #75. It is the second succesfull track in Germany of Irish band Westlife. In 2006 it ranked no higher than #11. Since then it came back four times – always as an effect of interpretations in casting shows. Now the track starts its sixth chart run with a position he had not seen since two years. It is the 31st chart week for the song.

Song number three from the DSDS show is In My Head by jason derülo which can reappear after a three months break at #80. In the show the song was interpreted by Ardian Bujupi

Find more about the DSDS show of 26th Feburary.