Christmas Carols And TV Castings

The last chart week of the year and we do have a new number 1. As some digital sales analysts reported a week ago Australian Gotye climbs to number 1 in Germany. Somebody That I Used To Know is the 15th and last number 1 single this year. So we had two number one hits more than in 2010 and the same amount as in the two years before. It is also the sixth debut single of an artist that can climb to number 1 in 2011. And it is a number one coming from an Australian act after a one year break. In December 2010 it was Empire Of The Sun who reached the top spot with We Are The People after its use as a commercial soundtrack. Taking in consideration that Gotye is a native Belgian he is the first Belgian artist at number 1 since March 2010 when Stromae occupied the top position for two weeks with Alors On Danse. By the way: it was the debut single for Stromae also – since his number 1 hit nothing more from him poped in the list. Accompanying Kimbra is the first artist from New Zealand reaching the German top.

The success of Gotye comes due to the release of the physical CD single on Decmeber 16th as well as due to the use of the track for advertising the Christmas programme of TV channel Pro7.

A significant move is made by Lady Gaga Superstar. She is more a performance and video star than a musical genius. The video for Marry The Night was released beginning of December simultaneaously with the CD and finally the track sales increases slowly. This week it reaches number 17 giving her a 10th Top 20 hit – it’s only the third to miss the Top 10.


The recent list is reflecting sales in the week just before Christmas, so let’s have a look at the annual Christmas carols. There we can witness a change: the most popular Christmas song this year is in fact All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. It beats out the long time favourite Last Christmas by Wham! narrowly as it sits one place ahead of Wham! at number 24. It is the highest rank the song can reach since 2008 when it rose to number 18. The past two years it stalled at number 28 respectively number 38. The new interest is caused by a newly recorded version featuring Justin Bieber as duetting partner. Unfortunately the charts do not list the versions separately due to te fact that the duet is only a B-side. Anyway according to iTunes the original version recorded in 1994 is the still the most popular. Number 3 of the Christmas anthems is – like the years before – Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming) offered by Melanie Thornton.


Looking at the list we can see that well known hits of the past months rise again up the list. Rosenstolz Wir sind am Leben reverts 55–45, Still by Jupiter Jones rises 59–46 . It is given that next week this trend will be even stronger.


German hits: Most sold German song is still Cello performed unplugged by Udo Lindenberg feat. Clueso (number 9). All other German productions are far and away behind that leader. Tim Bendzko ranks with Nur noch kurz die Welt retten (Just To Save The World) at 27 in its 30th chart week, Glasperlenspiel (Glass Bead Game) with Echt (Pure) rises again to number 28.

The highest new entry is a German one although it comes in only at number 48. It is the winner of talent casting show Das Supertalent. In fact Leo Rojas is a street musician from Ecuador. On the TV final the reunion with his mother was well set – the TV nation spent all emotions and voted the nai (pan flute) player for the win. As an effect his winning track Einsamer Hirte / The lonely shephard can enter the sales charts too.



It is kind of cynical that Leo Rojas is the celebrated one – hundreds of similar musicians ain’t recognized in German daily life. Probably that’s part of the business. Back to the music itself: Einsamer Hirte is a well known tune. In 1977 it became popular by James Last & Gheorghe Zamfir and reached number 22 in Germany. In 2003 the recording was used as the closing track in Quentin Tarantino’s movie Kill Bill Vol.I.

With Leo Rojas entering the list Germany sees two South Americans within the list. Brazilian Michel Telé jumps 49–26 with his soccer anthem Nooosssaa! Ai Se Eu Te Pego!.


Casting fever still burns for The Voice Of Germany. The live show from Friday, December 16th saw Lena Sicks battling against Heiko Schmidt. Both had to perform Eisberg (Iceberg) originally recorded by newcomer Andreas Bourani. The track re-enters at number 59. – Battle number two with huge emotional potential: Lisa Martine Weller versus Marijana Vuckovic. The song to perform was Another Way To Die made famous by Jack White & Alicia Keys for the soundtrack of the James Bond movie Quantum Of Solace from 2008. Winner of the showdown was Lisa Martine Weller – the track surprisingly re-enters the list at number 65. It is the 19th chart week for the song that climbed to number 8 in late 2008. I call that re-appearance surprisingly cause the track is mentioned as very inconvenient and hard to love since it was presented for the first time. Plus it is a three years old track – usually older songs only have a chance in the sales charts if they are performed by an very adored participant or the winner itself. Well, that might be a sign for meeting Lisa Martine again at the final shows…

Another movie track was the most touching a day before at live battle show number 1: Falling Slowly from the 2006 Irish movie Once that was awarded with an Oscar for the Best Song in 2008. Michael Schulte was the one who one the battle in the TV show with the song – the original was recorded by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová who both are now newcomer to the German charts – well, Glen Hansard had came already once in touch with the list as cast member of 1992 movie The Commitments.

Battle number 2 on that Thursday: Alicia Emmi Berg versus Kim Sanders. Both had to perform Only Girl (In The World). Kim Sanders (known from collaborations with Culture Beat, Schiller or Heppner) was chosen as the winner – original interpretation by Rihanna is back at 100.

Last TV influenced re-entry. Friday 16th again – different channel – completely different audience. The NDR Talkshow is watched by more older and intellectual people. Within the last show French ZAZ perforemde her hit je veux and unbelieveably as it seems – there are still enough people who didn’t had the song in their collection. So a new demand arose throwing ZAZ back in the list at number 60 which is her 41st chart week at all.


And now ... for all you – especially the many Russian speaking readers – I wish you a Happy New Year – С новым годом