European Hits

Indeed a busy week. The German chart counts 13 new entries – three of them inside the Top 10. When did we really had this last time?
13 new tracks (I mean REALLY new tracks – not only Re-Entries) entered the list at the end of July for the last time. It was somehow the last working week in music business. Three new entries inside the Top 10 happened right after the end of the DSDS superstar casting show in May. You see – it is not that unusualhaving a lot of good new music in the shelves although it feels like after a four months break.

I’ve already talked about the new Number 1from Marlon Roudette. Let’s drop some words ’bout the other new entries inside the Top 10. MAROON 5 featuring Christina Aguilera can land with Moves Like Jagger on downloads only at number 3. Impressive! CD sales count from next week’s list on – I’m curious about how high they can rise. So far Moves Like Jagger reaches the highest position a MAROON 5 track ever had. Only This Love reached number 5 in 2004. Christina Aguilera is much more used to find herself inside the Top 10. Moves Like Jagger is the 11th track naming her as an artist and doing so. But also her had to wait for more than four years since her last appearance that highhappened. It was Tell Me alongside P.Diddy that went number 5.

The third Top 10 new entry is the summer hit coming from Spain. If you were this summer somewhere in Europe at a party you for sure danced to Loca People (What The F**K!) served by DJ Sak Noel. The track is a hit in almost whole Europe. Just right now it started having a life in Canada too. Finally the track is available in Germany also and enters on downloads only at number 9. Again we will see next week where the track can rise when the CD is fully released. By the way: exactly one year ago the last track from a Spanish artist went Top 10. It was I Like It by Enrique Iglesias.



Having two European productions entering the top end of the list we count eight tracks of the Top 10 with at least one European artist involved. US-American artists are still the most present even in Germany with four tracks at least featuring an US act. Talking ’bout big European hits I must add that David Guetta launches his next promotional single Night Of Your Life at number 12. The predecessor Lunar – a completely instrumental dance track produced with Dutch Afrojack heavily using the Daft Punk formula – is entering the list at a very low position 84. It makes David Guetta having 11 tracks charted in 2011. Last year he had 9 respective 10 tracks if you count his role as a producer of Kelis’ Acapella too. Don’t know exactly when one act did something similar before. Michael Jackson had 23 tracks charted in 2009 – the year he died. A still living act with more than 10 tracks charted in a year were nobody else than The Beatles. The boys from Liverpool had 14 songs in the German charts in 1964. David Guetta is hard on the heels of that feat – there are more than 3 months left for him.

Another European act paid some attention to in German speaking countries is Dutch Caro Emerald. Her overwhelming hit A Night Like This still crowds up the upper ranks of the list – this week sliding 21–24 in the 27th chart week – so new single Stuck stands in the shadow of the predecessor. The swing inspired track enters at 41 on full CD release and gives her a third chart hit in Germany.



German tracks
Strong European track doesn’t mean a similar impact from German artists. Tim Bendzko still leads the German pack with Nur noch kurz die Welt retten softly sliding 5–4. Next best sold German track is Still – the long burning hit by Jupiter Jones still noted inside the Top 20 and also Andreas Bourani with Nur in meinem Kopf (Just In My Head) is selling well sliding 23–25. The acts following are Frida Gold, Casper and new in the shelves doreen aka Doreen Steinert. She had her first big success with casting band Nu Pagadi in 2004 but started quickly a solo career. Most recently she duetted with her boyfriend Sido and his enemy-friend Fler in 2009. Finally she offers a full album titled vorsicht zerbrechlich (Attention Fragile). Leading single is wie konntest du nur (How the hell could you) – a heartfull ballad about a broken love. All we know from doreen are ballads like this – probably the album is the right one for fully „enjoying“ heart aches. The CD so far performs cautious – I guess only fans of doreen bought the track. But she is the first contestant of upcoming Bundesvision Song Contest that will held 29th september in Cologne. This year there will perform a lot of big German acts – it will be a tough struggle for sure. And the impact on sales will be huge as well. It is certain even doreen will see her track rising in the list too – I’m curious whether she can launch her best performing track at all. We’ll see it.



Next song competing at BuVi Song Contest and getting first attention is Zum Laichen und Sterben ziehen die Lachse den Fluss hinauf (For Spawning And Dying Salmons Migrate A River Upwards). The song is brought by Tomte singer Thees Uhlmann. With the track he announces his first solo album that is titled after him. The lyrics tell the story of a whole life starting somewhen in childhood and expressing permanently the certainty that pain and fun are always close to each other. One of the significant words are „Life is like fire. It burns and gives warm.“ Very poetic.



Significantly the most successfull German productions have German lyrics too. Highest non German track is Hi-A Ma Pata Pata by Milk&Sugar feat. Miriam Makeba & Jungle Brothers dropping 41–53. German language seems gaining new popularity in pop business. Matching that thesis Geboren um zu leben (Born For Living) by UNHEILIG this week counts its 82nd consecutive week in the charts which makes it the longest running German track at all – overtaking Die längste Single der Welt by Wolfgang Petry from 1996. If we count all chart weeks – even those that were collected after a break – Geboren um zu leben is so far the third longest runner in German. It is hard on the heels of Das Beste (The Best) by Silbermond (Silver Moon). Leading the survey is still (and probably never be overtaken) Ein Stern (der deinen Namen trägt) (A Star (Named After You) by DJ Ötzi & Nik P. released in 2007.

Further German releases performing at the very down end of the list:
A new rock band coming from Berlin is Haudegen (Mortuary Sword). Well, band seems to be a little wrong – it is actually a duo. Both have been active as rap singers a few years long. To bring some more emotion into their tracks they decided to rename and change the style. Since last summer they appaer under the new name. An first EP and an album followed in autumn last year and May this year. The third single from that album is Zu Hause (At Home). It is – as most of their new tracks – a soft rock song about coming home and finding the right place for living – the place where you born. Seems strange to me in a world changing more and more into global and mobile one. It is a reaction to that new world made by people who can’t effort the luxury of travelling and working everywhere. No money means every place in the world is a wrong place. What counts in that situation is the home feeling, the place one is used to, the place of childhood. In that sense Haudegen is kind of a political rock duo – by the way a more right wing oriented. The world shown in their video is kind of creepy too.



Supported by the release of her album Frei (Free) LaFee can see her single Ich bin (I Am) having a boost in sales and reappearing in the German list. Nonetheless it is one of her worst performing singles – the album stalls at number 14 which is also a poor result for her.


Two oddities of German music business (and chart) at last today:
Killer Love the debut of Pussycat Dolls’ singer Nicole Scherzinger had its release back in March in Europe – except in Germany (and Austria I guess). Why? Nobody really knows. In the UK the singer launched three simultan Top 3 hits from that album including Nr.1 single Right There. In Germany nobody cares. Finally the album is announced and is in stores since the end of August. As leading single in Germany Right There was chosen (after that track was the biggest success in the UK and the U.S.). Release date was somewhen in June – but without any big promotion and as a download single only. Two weeks before the album the bigger promotion started – another official release date was reported still as download only single. Well – the effect: Right There enters at a low position 61. Seems that UNIVERSAL as the company of Ms. Scherzinger doesn’t see her as a single star at all or even worse doesn’t act for the singles’ market anymore. The big money can be milked only with album releases … I guess such focus ain’t what pop music lives on.

The recent Number 1 in Germany comes with support by a German movie. Even the last German movie that had such an impact titled Kokowäh (Coq au vin – in a acoustically written translation) brings a track back in people’s mind after released on DVD. Snowflakes by US-American White Apple Tree had a life as a medium hit back in march. Now the track sells again in bigger figures bringing Snowflakes again in the official German list at 65. The band is right now much more popular in middle Europe than in their home country.

Second track of the movie’s soundtrack Stay by British HURTS can rise up the list too. It lands at 77 this week. The DVD of Kokowäh meanwhile storms to Number 1 at the official lending charts and to Number 2 at amazon’s list.