07-27-12: A Lazy Summer Week

Lykke Li spends a third week at the Top of the German list and becomes the most successful female artist since Lana del Rey who occupied the Top spot for three weeks last at the end of 2011. It is quite interesting seeing I Follow Rivers fascinating whole Germany but almost failing in Austria and Switzerland where the charts usually are almost identical. Even in her hometown Sweden the song only made it to Number 44. So Lykke Li is a successful single act only in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France.

Also one of the biggest gainer at the upper end is a hit only in Germany at the moment. The remix of Reckoning Song / One day by DJ Wankelmut enters the Top 10 and makes Asaf Avidan one of the few Israeli artists who made it to bigger fame in Germany. In Austria and Switzerland the remix is released too, but only can made it to a position lower than 40.



Back to female stars. After her performance in Germany at the festival MELT and the breaking news that Lana del Rey will be the new face of the upcoming H&M campaign her single Summertime Madness takes a leap up to number 8. It is her second hit reaching the Top 10 in Germany. Her first big hit Video Games also re-enters at the end of the list after a six weeks abstinence.


It is a quiet and lazy summer week this issue. We do have only three new entries and six songs reentering the list which gives upcoming hits of the future the chance of getting more attention. Still available as an album cut only Move In The Right Direction by gossip will become big for sure as it climbs almost 20 places to number 35. The release of the CD single is announced for August 17th. Will the song reach Top 10 status before?

Still not released but highly featured in the movie Ice Age 4 The Wanted see their single Chasing The Sun rising 90–61. The release of the CD is scheduled for right now (27th July). Also rising although not on CD is the upcoming single by Taio Cruz World In Your Hands. The song goes 93–70.


German yellow press tried to convince us for a long time that boy group One Direction is a star act in Germany. But honestly–nobody really cares about the boys. The very first appearance on the singles list ended after a week in April this year . The album even didn’t chart. Then the label started to promote the song What Makes You Beautiful heavily as the soundtrack of the RTL campaign for their Movie Summer 2012. Having a daily TV presence last weeks the song finally starts rising and reaches the upper half of the list for the first time this week. Number 40 can count as a medium hit–a 12 weeks run to get there is more than annoying for the so called hottest boy group act of the season.



Summer time is the time of open airs and concerts. So let's watch the effect of live appearances in Germany by seeing Santigold pimping her chart career a little. Her single Disparate Youth rises 11 places again. Also on tour is TheBossHoss. On July 14th they released a new single Live It Up. Instead having a chart entry with this well known hit Don’t Gimme That rises 83–74.

On tour through the clubs everywhere in Europe included party island Mallorca Remady & MANU-L can give their song Single Ladies a second chart life. So far the track reached number 50 which is the best performance ever for the Swiss DJ. Now the track bounces back to number 64. In Poland the track was nominated for being the track of the year. Wow! (But had no chance against national power. The winner was Enej with Skrzydlate rece.



And finally let's have a look at new released tracks. Out on CD Sunshine (Fly So High) by Mike Candys Ft. Sandra Wild makes it in the Top 50. It lands at number 49 and is so far the worst performing single of the Swiss DJ.

The highest new entry this week comes in at number 66. It is one of the lowest best new entries ever. In 2012 only Natasha Bedingfield had a worse start as best entering artist with Shake Up Christmas 2011 on 6th January. If we exclude the first days of the year when almost no one releases new tracks and that’s why there is no new material–if one only watches the whole rest of the year one has to realise that July is indeed a time with weak releases. In 2011 it was Pures Gold by Norman Langen who started as the lowest best new entry of the year 2011 at number 69 on 15th July. In 2009 it was Sean Kingston who saw his Fire Burning starting at number 56 on 24th of July. Me myself–I don’t know why labels does not release strong songs in summer time. Well, people are on holiday–but isn’t it a good time for buying hits and discovering new music. I’m not an A&R manager, so I can’t answer it.

The best new entry this week is not only one of the lowest of all time. It is also the first Nigerian artist who can enter the German list. Of course it is not completely true as we had a few artists invading the charts that were born in Nigeria. Most famous there are Sade and Dr. Alban. In younger times there was Nneka who lives in Germany right now but identifies herself as a Nigerian and sings in her mother tongue. D’ Banj now is the first artist who actually lives in Nigeria and can launch a hit in Germany. His Oliver Twist mixes afro with electronic beats and became a big hit in his home country and a lot of other African countries last year. In May 2012 it reached the list in Britain and now finds the way to central Europe too. Germany might be a start for a bigger success.



In 1991 German speaking countries had a big summer hit provided by a commercial campaign. It was BACARDI that launched a catchy tune for its TV advertisements and later released it as a proper single named Bacardi Feeling (Summer Dreamin'). Singer of the song was Kate Yanai. 20 years later BACARDI is celebrating the anniversary of that success by releasing a cover version. Singer today is Kelly Rowland supported by a no name production team appearing under project b.. The single was released at the beginning of July but needs a little more promotion. Two weeks after being in shelves the single can reach the Top 100. Rank 79 is far and away from the success the song had back in 1991.




Let's have a short look into the album list which is much more vivant than the singles survey. Highest new album is Kopf im Sturm (Head In The Storm) by German BAKKUSHAN. It starts at number 14 and also lifts the single Nur die Nacht (Only the Night) back in the list–at number 98.


And finally some news from the survey of hits staying the most consecutive weeks in the charts. Adele’s Rolling In The Deep adds this issue a 81st week to its account matching the result of 1996 song Die längste Single der Welt by Wolfgang Petry. Both are now the third longest consecutive runner. Only Geboren um zu leben by UNHEILIG and Heavy Cross by gossip have had a longer run so far. Let’s check that in about three months again and we will see whether Adele can touch these records too.