Two comebacks: Benassi + a fake Modern Talking

A quiet chart week. Only six tracks entering the chart – two of them already were noted before. So we only have 4 real new entries two of them inside the Top 20.

A new CD – new in the top 20 but listed a week ago as download only single and thats why the gainer of the week – that’s Bag Raiders – the so far unknown Australian project heavily supported by TV advert for Vodafone. The story sounds quite familiar as you probably remember the rise of Empire Of The Sun’s rise to number 1 due to the use of it’s song We Are The People in an advert for .... guess! .... mobile company Vodafone. The company’s marketing agency does have the right feeling for the sound of the day. – The strong rise of the single is caused by the full release of the CD single. So far the track only was available digital. It will be very interesting watch the track moving next week. Could Vodafone really launch a second top hit by an advert?

Main focus of this blog is how German and continental European productions perform in Germany. Most successfull CD start of an European act lands at number 30. It is Italian DJ Benny Benassi who make a chart comeback after six years thanks to his collaboration with American Chris Brown. Beautiful People sounds familiar like last offerings by Chris Brown but strange to Benny Benassi itself. The DJ was one of the big motors of the European electro style succesfull from the mid-2000s till now. His best known track Satisfaction was a huge success in clubs all over Europe peaking number 2 in Great Britain in alte summer 2003.German buyers as always far more conservative brought the track up to number 38 only.

In commercial terms the career of Benny Benassi came to an end very soon, two more tracks and the collaboration project with his brother only could reach places lower than number 50 in Germany. Finally the DJ is back due to the recent success of European DJs and procudcers in the US. After David Guetta, RedOne or even Afrojack collaborate with big US names also Benny Benassi was asked to thrill up a track for a star. Well – to me the very origin sound of Benassi does not appear that strong on the track but it gives the DJ his highest ranking in Germany so far reaching number 30 in the first week after the track was released on CD.


Back to Germany. Most successfull German tracks are Call My Name brought to number 1 again by Pietro Lombardi. Second most popular track is Still by Jupiter Jones steadily rising and right now reaching number 11. Right behind that track newcomer Tim Bendzko lands with his lyrical ballad Nur noch kurz die Welt retten (Just have to save the world).

New in the shelves of German music stores is collaboration between two superstars of the 80s Thomas Anders and Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen. The new project simply calls Anders | Fahrenkrog. It is an attempt to reanimate the sound of Germany’s most popular act of all times Modern Talking. Do you remember the time when the duo hit the world in 1985/86 having 5 consecutive number 1 hits in their home country? One half of the duo was Thomas Anders. His new partner is well known as band member of Nena before they split up in 1987 and Nena did use her name for a solo career. Recently Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen produced some girl bands and appeared in casting shows.

The debut of Anders | Fahrenkrog is the song Gigolo – after a few seconds one feels back beamed to 1985. Probably that sound attracts a lot of older music consumers. I hardly doubt that a really young generation will care about that old school Euro disco sound. New entry at number 40 is not really what makes hope for a „next superstar project“.



Talking bout German hits we have to mention the song with the longest stay in the German charts right now. It is Geboren um zu leben (Born For Living) by UNHEILIG. It is now the 70th consecutive week the song spend in the list which is the fourth best performance behind Heavy Cross from Gossip (96 weeks), Die längste Single der Welt (The longest running single of the world) by Wolfgang Petry (81 weeks) and I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas (73 weeks). Actually Geboren um zu leben ranks at number 82.