December 8th 17: Sheeran Or Kollegah?

The year 2017 started with a huge impact by Ed Sheeran. Later on the singer set some chart records by releasing his album Divide. This week he manifests his status as most successful artist of 2017 by letting his song Perfect fly to #1. The final kick to get there came by the release of duet version with Beyoncé. We already know that effect from most selling single 2017 Despacito that was a hit already but became #1 after an additional release with extra star appearance. In the UK and the US the new track really is credited on the official list–the German survey still works with different rules so at #1 only Ed Sheeran is credited.

It is the second #1 for the British singer. Hidden accompanying Beyoncé as well gets her second #1 appearance. Her one and only #1 song so far dates back more than 10 years. In 2007 she occupied #1 for a single week dueting with Shakira on Beautiful Liar. Even her last top 10 appearance from 2010 was a duet: Telephone with Lady Gaga.

Although Ed Sheeran seems to be untouchable he ain't. As Kollegah & Farid Bang launch their album Jung Brutal Gutaussehend 3 and invade the song charts with tracks from this album. Highest one is Ave Maria at #5 followed by Rap wieder Rap at #7 and Es wird Zeit at #8. It is only the second time that an act launches three simultaneous new entries inside the top 10. In 2010 it was Lena who managed that feat first. Her appearance still is better as she started at #1, 3 and 4.
With six top10 hits in one calendar year the rap duo now ranks alongside David Guetta who did so in 2011 already.

Even better the performance inside the top20 is. Kollegah & Farid Bang launch eight hits there. It also boosts the statistic of German productions to an amount of ten–the best result in 2017–nine of them are in German which is a feat not seen since decades.

The first Christmas tunes arrived past week. Now the seasonal impact is much bigger. Still leading the list is All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey which goes 37–9 adding a third top10 week to its account.
Second best selling Christmas single is Last Christmas by Wham! from 1984. It goes 52–14 in its 126th chart week.
Ten further Christmas related songs re-appearing inside the list. These plus the 15 new entries by Kollegah & Farid Bang makes this recent list the one with the biggest turnover of songs in 2017: 31 songs of the survey were not listed the week before. It is the biggest change since May 2014 and even more as the list of August 1989 when the top75 changed into the top 100.

April 21st 17: Longest Running No.1 Since 27 Years

Indeed Ed Sheeran spends a 15th week at #1 with Shape Of You. So it is the longest running #1 since 1990 when Matthias Reim had his epic 16 weeks run with Verdammt ich lieb' dich.
Additionally Shape Of You adds a 30th consecutive week of British artists at the German top. Even this is a record.

Hard on the heels of Shape Of You is Despacito by Luis Fonsi Feat. Daddy Yankee which jumps further six places in its 12th chart week due to a new version featuring Justin Bieber.


Two new albums send single tracks in larger amounts to the song charts. As there are Dresden rapper ZUNA with eight tracks and Kendrick Lamar with seven the charts see 17 new entries plus one song re-entering the list which is the highest result of 2017 so far. Additionally the number of tracks involving USAmericans reaches 41–a status not achieved since two years.

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.

Dutch Mallorca Sound

What a week: 13 new entries! Only once this year we had more. It was the list of March 4th that welcomed 14 new tracks. – Well, two years ago it was quite usual having 20 or more new tracks in one single week. Times change fast.

13 new tracks doesn’t mean a lot of action. The Top 10 (and even the Top 20) looks almost static: Highest mover as mentioned before is Tim Bendzko who rises 6–3 with Nur noch kurz die Welt retten. Right behind him and a week after its full release Lady Gaga’s The Edge Of Glory slowly fades down. After its raise to number 3 last week it now slides down one place to number 4. Anyway it is the 7th song of Lady Gaga that at least peaked inside the Top 3. The big gainer of last week Lucenzo feat Don Omar and their Danza Kuduro is nailed at number 7. The story behind the track shows that it isn’t „real“ Kuduro at all …
Rising back to the peak she gained almost two month ago Brooke Fraser founds a lot of fans. After her album Flags peaked at number 6 two weeks ago the single Something In The Water benefits from the interest and rose back 13–9–8.

Highest gainer this week is the swiss-russian-american collaboration between DJ Antoine vs Timati feat. Kalenna. The remix of the english version of Welcome To St. Tropez jumps 20–12 and makes Timati the firstRussian artist hitting the Top 20 sinc t.A.T.u. did so in 2003 and 2005. DJ Antoine is the best ranking Swiss act in Germany since the heydays of Stefanie Heinzmann in 2008. So far it took the track 17 weeks for getting finally that high – it started somewhen inApril at a low number 79. Assuming the track will rise further the next week one can say already now: that’s what we call a chart career full of tension.

The russian version:


The remix:


Also on the rise – although much slower – Katy Perry with Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) is. She moved so far 22–21–18–17. Will she finally reach the Top 10?


All the tracks new in the list gather lower than position 30. Nine of them are German productions. What sounds exciting is indeed not that powerful. The most successful German tracks are still the same:
1. Tim Bendzko Nur noch kurz die Welt retten
2. Jupiter Jones Still
3. Frida Gold Wovon sollen wir träumen
All three inside the Top 20 and all three using the German language – that’s quite a feat.

Most successfull German track new on CD is Schatzi, schenk mir ein Foto (Honey, Give Me A Fotograph) which is newly released in a summer version including new Mallorca party mixes. The discofox techno sound still is very very popular in Germany and especially in Germans holiday destinations like Mallorca. So the new mixes caused a new interest – the party song now reaches a new peak at number 40 almost axactly 6 months after the song first appeared in the charts.



With the new edition the credits were changed by the company. The first release from the early 2011 was credited to Mickie Krause feat. Ko&Ko as the brothers from the Netherlands who wrote the song in original were participating in the recording as well. The new release only shows Mickie Krause at the cover although the version together with Gebroeders Ko is on the CD as well. The brothers probably don’t mind cause they are right now a featured act on Markus Becker’s new single. The Mallorca singer recorded their Heli-Heli Helikopter and took both into the studio as well. The result is now in shops and starts in the charts at number 52.



And there is a third Mallorca discofox party song originally released in Dutch entering the German charts. It is Dos cervezas por favor by Belgian (Flamish) actor Tom Waes which is now translated into German by Ina Colada. Do I have to say something more about that …? – Well, it enters at number 59 and gives Miss Colada a second chart hit.

The Dutch original:


The German version (no official video acvailable):


And another stupid Mallorca hit: Vater Abraham (…hat 7 Söhne) (Father Abraham has 7 sons) by Tim Toupet also released as CD on 15th of July (I guess it’s quite unique that all these tracks appear in one week – probably the labels have some commitments). It starts at posiiton 76.




The Other New German Releases (and there are a lot!)

The Beatsteaks also have a new single. Automatic is not that significant as predecessor Cheap Moments was, but it sells much better – probably cause its kind of the title track of their album Boombox. Automatic starts at number 43. It is nothing more than the third track of the Beatsteaks reaching the upper half of the charts.



Jennifer Rostock had their first hit in 2008 after taking part at Stefan Raab’s Bundesvision Song Contest. Since than they appear continouosly with new material – they are one of the few German electropunk bands with a major label contract. Now their third album Mit Haut und Haar (Neck And Crop) is released – two weeks before the single Keiner nimmt mir Mein Mikrofon (Nobody Can Take Away My Microphone – sometimes shortened to Mein Mikrofon) is out. It is a powerful song about the strong will not to be silent and live own dreams. The band continues in their own style – only the refrain seems a little more mass compatible than earlier recordings. In September the band again will take part at Bundesvision Song Contest. Than a new single will be available.



New Single coming from Samy Deluxe is PoesieAlbum (Autograph Album) – it is the lead single of recent album Schwarz Weiss (Black White). Samy Deluxe is one of the serious German rap stars concerning more about society and life than their colleagues from AGGRO Berlin or ersguterjunge. Listening to the new track it is indeed a battle good vs. bad HipHop – very self-referred, but in musical terms a masterpiece. I’ve never heard before a German hiphop star rapping that fast – unbelievable. The first position for PoesieAlbum is number 63.




Söhne Mannheims (Sons Of Mannheim) are kind of a super group. Led by German soul singer no.1 Xavier Naidoo they already have four albums under their belt – all sold in proper amounts reaching top positions of the album list. The second single of their recent album is Freiheit. According to their homepage it is a hommage to the Arabian spring revolutions. The lyrics are much more unspecific defining what freedom is. A soulful ballad as well known from the sons – unfortunatly that’s what most people think, the track just can enter position 77



The new Söhne Mannheims single muc more supports the last Xavier Naidoo single. Bitte hör nicht auf zu träumen (Please Don’t Stop Dreaming) had achieved some new interest during last weeks. It is quite unknown what really caused the new popularity. At least last reports that Xavier Naidoo will be member of a jury at announced TV show The Voice Of Germany might making people more focused on him. Bitte hör nicht auf zu träumen is rising actually to number 45 the highest place since start of this year.





Four years ago the summer hit was a Spanish one sung by a band from Hannover: Marquess. The four guys had a lot of fun and almost three years of real success. Than they made a two years break and now they are back again. With a Spanish song of course named Chapoteo. Unfortunatly they didn’t get the real new idea in the last two years. It is an easy melody, it is a song with simple lyrics – and it is not at all that kind of catchy tune some others of them were. That’s a pity. The comeback starts at number 70.



Dancefloor project Michael Mind Project started last week with Ready Or Not. It is a track on which Sean Kingston sings – it entered the list at 55. Now it tumbles down to 71.



At last a trivia: at wednesday 20th July the German TV broadcasted Song Beneath The Song probably the most emotional episode of the 7th season of Grey’s Anatomy. This episode is made as a complete musical – one of the songs appearing in the show is Chasing Cars. Obviously it moved the German auditorium as well – the original recording by Snow Patrol enters the German charts for a 61st week at 78. Here is the scene in question.


And finally Disney serial Lemonade Mouth arrives in German free TV. First track appearing in the charts is Determinate which sneaks in at position 92. +

Chart flash 11-17: I Really Miss New Tracks

Let me tell you one thing first: I do love pop music. And I do love the charts. But sometimes it is really hard to do so. If you find the Top 3 completely the same as last week this is perhaps a sign of very good and beloved tracks. If one find such constellation every third or fourth week one could doubt the quality of songs. Maybe it’s more an effect of fearfull release schedules or a public very conservative. Or the really new and fresh sound does not find the way into the market. Who knows.

In case of the recent list we whitnes a static Top 3. I would say it is caused by really catchy productions. And I would say dance floor and club sound spiced with some Eurodance samples of the late 80s or 90s is the must be of today. On top of the German chart JLO feat. Pitbull, Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta and Rihanna are cemented non movers. For Jennifer Lopez it is the third week at the top spot.

After having 5 of 7 new entries coming from Germany last week the new list shows three American productions as the highest new entering tracks. Leading the pack is the trio Dr. DRE featuring Eminem & Skylar Grey. The track I Need A Doctor is the second single from long awaited and announced album of Dr. DRE himself Detox. The first single Kush never made it into the German charts. So I Need A Doctor is the first time Dr. DRE appears in the list as a main artist for over 9 years. Of course he had some hits as a producer meanwhile most recently We Made You the very first come back single of EMINEM released in 2009. Eminem instead does have his 24th chart entry by now. And Skylar Grey finds her way into the German chart for a second time.

This all star collaboration should ensure a proper chart career. But the track is entering the list only at number 25 in its first week. It is this already the third week in a row that the highest new entry charts lower than position 20. Do we really lack of interest for new tracks?

The Real Christmas Charts

The most recent press text launched by media control tries to give the feeling of unbelievable and astonishing chart entries in the sales week direct before Christmas (17th to 23rd of December). But there is no real news. Instead I could repeat the flashlight look from one week before. Highest new entry in the singles and the album list is Freddy Sahin-Scholl winner of Germany's edition of Germany Got Talent. Highest new entry sounds very well - look a bit closer no. 17 for album Carpe Diem and no.56 for same titled single … in other weeks of the year this would be an entry almost not recognized at all. Spoken more precise no.56 is the lowest "highest new entry" of the whole year 2010. Even new year's day offering New Day by Max Mutzke did better with entering no.40. Well there was a list in 2010 with no NEW entry. The charts of 8th of January saw only re-entries. Best one here were Sportfreunde Stiller with Ein Kompliment re-appearing at 41.
So Freddy Sahin-Scholl has one of the lowest highest new entries ever in chart history matching Sean Kingston's Fire Burning at 24th of July 2009.

Lazy German music buyers!

No wonder also the top 3 is completely static. Israel IZ Kamakawiwo'olespends its 12th week at the top with Over The Rainbow. Last male solo artist doing so was techno act U96 (aka Alex Christensen) which spended 13 weeks at the top with Das Boot from January to April 1991. Last single with at least 12 weeks at no.1 still is POker Face offered by Lady Gaga 2009.